[pedanticfreak]

Some people do annotate in the margins. Especially non-fiction books. At the very least I've been known to add a bookmark (i.e. shred of paper) to a particular spot with some notes written on it.

My criticisms of the Kindle are for its page transitions and poor interface. The Kindle is really like the Blackberry of of digital readers. The interface is beyond clunky compared to simple taps and swipes that much more closely emulate the act of reading a physical book.

My best hope is that Mirasol comes to the Nook Color sooner rather than later as I highly doubt the iPad will come with a non-backlit display for several generations.

[thwarted]

The interface is beyond clunky compared to simple taps and swipes that much more closely emulate the act of reading a physical book.

I've often felt that the "need" to emulate something in the real world on new devices and new interfaces has held back significant innovation. Despite that "the desktop metaphor" is supposed to be familiar, people still can't manage their files effectively. And now new interfaces are rare/difficult to gain traction because people are used to the desktop metaphor despite that it becomes less and less a good metaphor.

[pedanticfreak]

Regardless of whether we should or shouldn't emulate the real, I still stand by my statement that swipes and taps are superior to the Kindle interface. Perhaps in your case despite rather than because that interaction is more like reading a physical book.

[thwarted]

I fail to see the significant difference between a "tap" on a screen and what you actually need to do to turn a page on the kindle: "tap" a button.

The Kindle hardware is usable with one hand. I don't find reading books using the kindle app on my android phone to be as easy to do with one hand as with the hardware, mostly because since the kindle page turning buttons are physical and have decent resistance, I don't need to hold the device in an awkward way to avoid activating an action I don't want to.

The kindle is actually much better than a book because it's easier to operate with one hand than a physical paperback is.