It's pretty neat, people calling it carrots and stuff are just loving stupid.
From demos and reviews the controls look extremely responsive, very precise. Unlike the piece of stuff Wiimotes.
The only thing I don't like about this is the placement and size of the X, square, circle and triangle buttons. And I agree it could use a change to its design, but it apparently fits extremely well in your hands and is hard to drop or throw across the room accidentally
And it's made by Sony, it won't break.