Seriously the weight is an issue? Ok, whats the heaviest book they have read? I mean seriously. I personally have several books that weight that much from old text books, to books of fiction. And I often would read them for hours and hours.
And I was seriously going to buy the Kindle late last year, until this was announced.
I typically read 2 to 4 hours a day. And thats never in direct sunlight (its always inside) so that issue is a non issue for me (but if you are an outdoor reader I would recommend the kindle). I am never going to be reading weeks straight with out access to recharging. So that length of the charge isn't an issue (at least not with users saying more then ten hours) the only time this would ever be an issue is when I used to go camping, and thats been twenty years ago.
And I am sorry but color is a huge, huge issue. I have been reading and collecting comics since 1972. The idea that I can scan those items and input them into the device (which I have done with both desktops and laptops), but one that I can easily take around the house, read while laying down or sitting crazy in a recliner (which even the smaller netbooks suck at) is a huge huge selling point. As is the increase in size and the smaller image the harder to few full scenes (and be able to read the dialogue).
I mean seriously I was going to spend nearly $300 for a smaller B&W reader that would not be able to work with a about a third of what I want to read. And I can't use either laptops or desktops for comfortable reading, period. I have tried for decades. They suck (at that comfort).
But not only that I can get a huge sized MP3 player with it (using both together), I can use it as a very portable video player that works with all of my 3 TB of film and tv and again can be used in comfort in positions that I can't use a desktop, laptop or my computer hooked up to my HDTV).
This for me is a complete no brainer.
For example, I can now have my ipad and go to sleep with my boyfriend, watching,listening or reading to whatever I want (and so can he). We don't have to fight for space to fit to laptops (since if we are both reading it would be to different things), we don't have to have the lights or a small lamp running. If we want to both watch different films of shows to sleep with (we normally are either reading or watching shows to sleep to) we don't have to argue about what to watch, we can each watch what we want (and again not have to worry about lap tops taking up too much room or the HDTV being heard and seen by all.
Seriously just for the ease of sleep its like a huge, huge plus.
And even if I personally had no use for this device (which will be the case for some people, after all we all do have different uses for electronics) getting this product (and the others) out is only going t0 be good for the development of seriously mobile devices that do at some point int he future became more then just media devices but serious computers as well.