I live in the US.
Ever since the E-Ink technology was announced in 2005, I was very eagerly and anxiously awaiting the release of an eBook reading device implementing it...
Of course, we get the Sony PRS 500, right? How much was it? $400?
Yeah, so... 4 years later, the prices finally drop low enough for me (I paid $250 for a Sony 505), and in the meantime (and before, of course), I have been struggling with iPod Touch (jailbroken with PDF support - before the Apps features) and Palm cell phone eBook reading... both are major pains in the ass. Especially PDFs...
But this Sony with the e-ink.... so freaking fantastic. I have complete control over formatting and the files... the battery life is immaculate. All of the "problems" people have with it I have managed to overcome with ease. (heh, I particularly enjoy the "argument" that because it's an electronic device, it should have a backlight... which is a (or the) significant purpose of the device - not to have one - paper pages don't, and this is supposed to be like those...
)
Perusing the forums, I notice people non-nonchalantly discussing reading books on their backlit mobile devices:
Perhaps this has been discussed, and I will search later, but is there a certain percentage of the population who are able to read on backlit LCD screens for long periods without it causing eye strain? I am not part of that population, unfortunately.