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Nook Simple Touch is a little too simple, I think. Yes it does have page turn buttons but they are not very ergonomic and greatly limit the range of grips that are possible. (I mostly just use taps and swipes instead.) The update (5 months after initial ship) doesn't add any features, just improves performance, text clarity, and fixes TOC navigation—which makes it at least worth considering. There is no web browser (technically it is still there but can only be used to sign in to proxied wifi, register facebook/twitter/gmail). Cannot install dictionaries (translation or otherwise). No landscape mode for ePub or PDF, no PDF zoom/pan or annotation. No TTS. If you borrow library ebooks, you must use ADE to side load them. There is no way to export notes and highlights. No 'social' features to speak of. The B&N store gives you no way to easily discover free content, which it has in abundance (1000000 free Google books). User book reviews are sparse. The SD card expansion is useful up to a point, but compared to Kindle's wireless delivery it is far less convenient. For example, you cannot delete side loaded content without attaching to a computer, and you can't even remove any content without actually opening it first. On the plus side, you can root it and install some Android apps (including Kindle4Android) and there are the in-store offers if you like to visit a B&N store, including ability to read ebooks without purchasing them. And custom screen savers.
Kindle library borrowing is much more versatile than Nook's as you can read on any device and it all happens wirelessly (you can even use the Kindle browser to borrow books). Wikipedia lookup is built in and useful, as is limited browsing capabilities (which Kindle Touch should make a little more useable). Kindle Touch will support some features of the forthcoming KF8 format, bringing it more on par with ePub. There's the Xray feature, but at this point it is hard to say what value it provides. There's the most useful Personal Documents service for sending content. Notes and highlights are logged on your Kindle and also available on your kindle.amazon.com page. It is multilingual, and you can install translation dictionaries. Text to speech is nice to have, audiobooks & mp3 player also. Amazon CS has a well deserved reputation. The Kindle Store has a lot of unique content and has frequent, attractive deals. And there are many, copious book reviews to read when considering a purchase.
If you can wait a little while, you might want to add Sony Reader PRS-T1 to your list of contenders. It has a functional web browser, good integration with Overdrive for library borrowing, better PDF support, and physical page turn buttons that are probably a little better than Nook's. They seem to have some software issues but I'm sure those will be addressed before too long. They dropped the price to $129 this week.
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