I love the Kindle app on my iPad. I don't have a Kindle but I have bought a few Kindle books, technical books with lots of illustration that wouldn't be very practical to read on my Opus. I find that after setting the colors to Sepia and reducing the iPad's luminosity, it's not that bad for reading.
I hadn't noticed about the home screen image, it seems it changes according to the hour. The other day I looked at it in the early evening, it was already night outside but the Kindle seemed to have a sunset. I wonder what times it considers as nighttime, does it change with the season? And what if you're in the Southern hemisphere?