I think it's a bit odd there are no Pokecenters to fully heal your team, there are enough Pokestops so surely they could have made a few landmarks into Pokecenters? My team has been destroyed in the gym battles I've had so far, there's no chance I'm going to win any battles yet because the people who run these gyms have ridiculously powerful Pokemon. I suppose you do get plenty of potions and revives but it still seems like an oversight to me.
Got a Charmander from my first egg which was cool but as you say you're never going to evolve it if candies are the only way to do it. Hatching eggs is easy for me though because of my morning commute, hopefully I get a few more of the rarer ones this way.
It all seems quite limited at the moment though, you have to be really militant about it to make real progress. Most people will get bored eventually.