I tend to disagree. The best Kindle device out there, in my opinion, is only $79. That's well into the range of disposable for most people in tech, and it performs the task (reading) better than anything else out there. It doesn't take long for that to be a great deal.

Maybe it's just me, but I find the e-paper Kindles to be absolutely terrible reading experiences. The text is still relatively low contrast, but the real deal killer is the refresh flash. It's jarring and disruptive and it is nothing like a page turn.

I disagree strongly about the text, I find e-ink wonderful to read from. When I 1st used my e-ink kindle and noticed the refresh flash I actually thought it was a problem. I asked a friend who had one prior to me if his did the same and initially he said no. Then he went to check and realised that yes, it does. He then yelled at me for pointing it out as it wasn't something he'd even taken notice of in the past but now couldn't avoid focusing on every time he turned a page.

For me, I got used to the refresh flash and it doesn't bother me in the slightest or disrupt my reading. I don't really see the need for a page turn metaphor. The fact the next/previous buttons are right where I'm holding the device is a huge plus in my mind. Devices where you need to swipe the screen to turn a page seem to be missing out on the huge advantage.

The one thing which I absolutely needed to learn how to hack was the margin size. It struck me of a waste of space to have a 20mm margin on the screen. I found a guide to edit a config file on the device and changed to 5mm margin and love it.

I disagree with you. You start ignoring the refresh flash and it is not distracting at all once you get used to it. Really the fancy page turn animation does not add any value to my reading experience. I would care less. What I care about is I can read my book outdoors in bright sunlight and go without charging for a month. And, my eyes don't get tired after long hours of reading.

Nothing beats being outdoors and reading my books.

That being said, both the Kindle Fire and iPad 2 we have are inside devices only. When going on trips its the Kindle that is always packed with the question of, are we taking the iPad? Oh, yeah, kids want to play Angry Birds.

e-ink just cannot be beat outdoors, I haven't found one active display that works well in that environment.