I've never used the base, but after using the Touch, I don't understand why anyone would want to push buttons to turn pages. It's so much easier to just tap/swipe the screen. Plus, the Touch has more memory.

I don't have either model, just chiming in on page turning--the button on my Nook is simpler than swiping or tapping in the Nook app on my tablet. Because I can just keep my hand there and it's a really small, regular movement.

I love my 3rd gen Kindle with buttons, but it has Wifi and 3G. Given a choice between buttons and 3G, I'd go with the ability to download books on the beach.

The Kindle Fire is really just a scaled-down iPad locked to the Amazon marketplace. If what you're looking for is primarily an e-reader for text (not graphic novels or comics), I'd go with one of the e-ink Kindles.

The Fire has some glare on the screen, doesn't play well with non-mobi formats, and the battery life is much shorter than an e-ink Kindle, as well.

For a touchpad to check your email or read the board or do some reading on, the Fire is okay except that it doesn't have 3G, so it's only good as a browser if you have wifi access.

I have a 3rd gen Kindle that has 3G. And buttons. (And ads, but, you know, a gift.) It usables fine.

I like my Touch, I've never used one with buttons, so I can't compare that. I have used the 3G part, though. I had disconnected my modem and router trying to fix a problem and then went to bed (and forgot what I did). I'd gotten a bunch of free books on Amazon and wanted to download them so it just switched to 3G and it was fairly fast.

the battery life is much shorter than an e-ink Kindle, as well.

The battery life on the base Kindle (mine is *not* 3G) is extremely long if wifi is turned off. And the e-ink/lack of glare is excellent. Although I don't like that I can't adjust the contrast of the screen, and I wish there were an option for backlighting.

That said, I don't like the buttons to turn the pages. I always think that *both* buttons on the right turn to the next page, and both buttons on the left go back a page. Which is not true. I like the Kindle app on my iPod Touch better, because poking the screen seems more intuitive.

That said, the Kindle was a gift, so I'm not slagging its existence or anything. I'm just apparently less button-intuitive than I thought.

Looks like that Kindle has the same button setup as the Nook, so right hand or left has full access to back and forth. Took me a moment to grok, but it makes sense. I'm glad they did that.

Thanks, all!

It doesn't look like the basic model has a 3G option. I don't know how much I'd use that though (although I consider it indispensible on the iPad). Probably not $70 worth. The battery life seems more of an issue, but again, probably not a $70 issue.

Since I had to wipe the phone clean, I no longer have Swype. And I don't remember the hoops I had to jump through in order to find the hacked version that runs on ICS. So I'm trying out SlideIT, and I have to say, I prefer Swype. I had to go find a setting to stop one letter words from running into the one before or after--Swype doesn't distinguish between a one-letter tap and a swype, and it spaces them both the same. SlideIT comes with spacing swipes automatically turned on, and not tapping.

Also, I can't work out how to load a UK dictionary. It seems to have both color and colour in the dictionary, but I don't want color in there at all. It's an unneeded distraction. Their language selection seems to be for the keyboard, not the dictionary.

Hacked Swype didn't give me a UK dictionary either--the option was there, but it never completed downloading. Still, I knew it was coming. Hopefully soon.

Also, unlike most of the other keyboards I've used, a long keypress doesn't automatically enter the first alternate character for the key (which are teeny tiny), but gives you a choice of three or four characters. Ah, I usually default want @ or 4, or whatever. I don't mind the accented characters being extra keystrokes away. This way has fewer average keystrokes for my normal typing.

Are there a lot of people who don't automatically want their address book entries in their dictionary? It seems polite to not only give you the choice, but to also offer the choice between names, street addresses, and email addresses. It hadn't occurred to me before.