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I like the X-Ray feature. At a minimum, it lets you see snippets referencing characters and terms without leaving your current position in the book. And if you do navigate to read more of the context, it's pretty painless to return to the previous location.
Originally Amazon cannibalized user generated content at Shelfari (which they acquired in 2008) but I think most of it now is generated algorithmically, with minimal human curation. As such the quality is variable, and usefulness in any case varies with the book in question. Unfortunately there is no substitute for actual reading skills and being able to tune out distractions.
Tablets are better if you like taking out-of-band notes, ability to look things up, pull up maps and that sort of thing. On iPad you can use Slide Over or Split Screen for the 'other' apps, and you can copy and paste from the book, use an external keyboard, use voice dictation, etc..
In-line notes such as you can enter on a Kindle are useful as well (and easy to export) but you're very limited by the virtual keyboard. I wish they would at least make it possible to pair a bluetooth keyboard so it would be easier to type, and they could also add keyboard shortcuts for navigating to Xray, Notes, TOC, Home, jump to next previous chapter etc. (the Kindle Apps have some keyboard shortcuts but there could be more of them).
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