Yeah, of course it's unfinished and I'm sure a lot of those "holes" in operability will be filled (MMS, IM, Flash, etc.) with updates eventually.
In fairness, WM5 AKU 1.x was also pretty unfinsihed with no Push email, lots of bugs and even more sluggish than now. We all got an IOU from MS for AKU 2.x which luckily just about everyone got 4 months after release.
The difference in all of this is of course Apple's stance: they proclaimed they "reinvented the phone", put down all other smartphones and made grandiose claims about the "full internet in your pocket" yadda yadda.
So with all the free hype and publicity they received, when the device lacks some features like search your contacts and voice dial, the backlash is twice as strong. That's just the game, so I really don't feel bad for the people defending Apple. (Not like the majority won't be happy anyways)
Had MS, Moto, HTC, or Palm made such claims the response would be the same if the failed to account for some of the basics.