It has the stickers covering the screws for disassembly, so it's at least a "final sample", and not a pre-production unit. Even then, with the timing being relatively late (months after production units being shipped), and this being a review and not a preview or something, I can't see this being anything but a production unit.

I think you're too fast with dismissing issues as being impossible to be from an actual device. All the issues he mentioned seem like they could happen on a production unit, they seem minor enough.