It not uncommon to have exposed terminals on various devices, they are usually protected and no Voltage is measurable at the terminal, so it presents no safety problem.
That's true, but they aren't protected in this case - both terminals are exposed, as I discuss in my new
T60CS review.
Sunwayman has taken steps to reducing this shorting risk, by recessing the inner (positive) terminal by about half a centimeter relative to the outer (negative terminal). But you could still potentially short over this short distance (e.g., with keys, as pointed out above).
I understand that the carrier has built-in fuse to protect against a catastrophic short. But I wouldn't want to rely on that. And in any case, it would destroy the carrier - you would need to get a replacement.
Simple solution is to just fashion a small plug to cover the recessed inner contact. I recommend Sunwayman do this, but the end user could also do it easily enough with typical materials on hand (i.e., a little electrical tape, plastic, rubber - maybe PlayDoh anyone?
). Just takes a few seconds to completely remove the risk.
UPDATE July 16, 2012: I expressed this concern to Sunwayman, and they inform me that they are working on such a plug for the T60CS.