The Kindle's screen, at the cost of some functionality and elegance, is not only relaxing to the eyes, but also completely kills the low-grade but omnipresent a

The Kindle's screen, at the cost of some functionality and elegance, is not only relaxing to the eyes, but also completely kills the low-grade but omnipresent anxiety of a touch screen. Which means you don’t have to worry about triggering a destructive action by accidentally brushing the screen somewhere and grip-placement is a lot less restrictive, i.e. if it's most comfortable to hold by a corner of the actual screen, you can. The physical buttons mean that I know for sure when I've made an input. Not only that, but part of what made the iPhone's touch screen so much better than all the touch screen interfaces that came before it was it's insistence on a 1:1 direct manipulation paradigm, which simply isn't possible with current e-ink technology. This is more like a touch screen gesture based interface, which simply isn't that much better or more satisfying and is in some ways worse than physical buttons. I find that the non-touch screen makes for a remarkably relaxed experience, but I'm afraid it's probably not enough of a concern for device makers to resist the whizz-banginess of the touch screen.