Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am anxiously awaiting Kindle 2.0 and I'll tell you why - ergonomics. I really, really wanted to like the Kindle. The concept of having your entire library in a small, searchable electronics device that didn't melt your eyes like staring at a computer screen does really appealed to me. I'm an avid reader of novels, computer books, and lots of other things. An electronic reader with an E-Ink screen made sense. The Sony E-Reader looked good, but lacks the content that Amazon's Kindle offers. I think that almost everything about the Kindle is great, but - the ergonomics are terrible! How are you supposed to HOLD this thing in your hands? I spent the last 24 hours reading books, newspaper, and magazines on it. The keyboard surprisingly stays out of the way; I never accidentally hit a key when I was using it. BUT - those large Previous/Next keys on the side make it impossible to hold easily. You basically have two choices - hold it by the bottom/middle or hold it very gently by the sides, so as not to activate the buttons. I hold my books by the sides when I read them because it's very comfortable and natural to do so. You can't do this on a Kindle because you'll accidentally switch pages if you do. The design is terrible! It was very frustrating to use because I had to pick it up a special way so as not to activate the page turning buttons - I couldn't just pick it up like a book because I might lose my page by hitting the Previous or Next button. I can't emphasize this enough...those large side buttons are the reason I'm returning my Kindle. It's very frustrating to use because you press the keys on accident all the time and it makes it not very comfortable to hold. Amazon, if you're reading this, please take some of the following ideas to your drawing board for version 2.0: 1. Put comfortable hand grips on the sides - I want to be able to hold my book easily! I'm not exactly sure why there's a rubber grip on the back of the book but not the sides - my fingers aren't designed to hold a flat surface like the back of the book! 2. Move the Previous/Next buttons somewhere else that is still easily accessible. It's not easy to operate a Kindle with one hand and it definitely should be. Also, my fingers want to grip the sides of the screen but since the buttons are there, I can't. This was annoying to the point that I returned mine. 3. Why isn't there a backlight or built-in light? Books have been around for hundreds of years and Amazon's goal is to replace them with the presumably better Kindle E-Reader...so why doesn't it have a light so I can read it in the dark? 4. Why is there a physical Wireless On/Off switch? I forgot to turn it off and it drained my battery. It should be a software switch that activates when it needs to access the Internet, unless you're on an airplane or something in which case you can put it into Airplane Mode. 5. Why is it white? Mine was dirty less than an hour after I got it. A darker color would be appreciated! 6. Why is the Kindle oriented vertically? When I read, I read in widescreen, i.e. two pages open in my novel. When I tilted the Kindle and held it horizontally, it was MUCH more comfortable to hold. The Sony E-Reader has this feature and I think it's great. 7. I want good document conversion software for PDF, DOC, TXT, etc. I have a ton of material on my computer that I'd highly prefer reading on an E-reader, but it gets kind of mangled when I import it. If I could read my own content with good formatting as well as books, that'd be awesome. 8. Why do I have to pay nearly full price for an electronic book when I'm not paying for ink, paper, or distribution costs? I know the free EVDO wireless is costing Amazon money, but if you sold your books at 50% off people would be all over this thing, despite it's high price tag. 9. Please offer a service to trade in paper books for their electronic versions. I have bookshelves upon bookshelves of books I've purchased, but I don't want to buy them again just so that I can have a digital copy of them - I've already paid for them! 10. PLEASE put a store button on the Kindle! I don't want to have to go into a sub-menu just to access the Kindle store - I want to hit a button and be taken directly in! Other than those gripes, the Kindle is a fantastic piece of gadgetry. I hope that Amazon gets their entire library converted soon because it would be great to have access to any content I want, whenever I want it. Amazon, please listen to your users because you have the potential to make the Kindle great with just a few hardware modifications.