Personally, I am intrigued by the gun. When my arthritis presented a real problem racking my pistol I bought. Remington 380. I chose it because it was low recoil, easy to rack, and it had a 2.9 inch barrel. With velocity and energy influenced by barrel length the RM380 had an advantage over other subcompact pistols.

This new M&P 380 has a barrel juts a tad under 4 inches. That might put it in a class that has enough barrel length to actually generate enough velocity to make a HP mushroom unlike subcompact 380s.
I will be interested in how it tests out in reviews of the gun and it’s ballistics.

Re the grip safety, it would not bother me for a second. Once I reached senior staff no I carried a 1911 with all its safety features. None of the were a problem. Fact is that I would have done away with the thumb safety and just had the grip safety with the half cock safety.

However, after rehab, I can now work with my 9mm without problems, so a 380 is not in the cards for me.