Hello Noah98,
I'm glad you like my reviews. I'll be posting more soon. Now on to your questions!
First let me say that I can appreciate all of your concerns and requirements when buying an ebook reader. You see, they are almost exactly the same as mine as I quest for the perfect device. Unfortunately, that device does not exist, at least not for me! Often you will find features in one device or the other that you wish was all-in-one. I can give you a comparison of the two and then you can decide which of the two would be the best fit for you (if you are going to buy a device now). Just to be completely honest, I don't buy e-ink devices for the simple reason they are not backlit. I know folks have their reasons for getting these devices, and the biggest positive is the fact that the Nook and Kindle have a huge library behind them. I just can't get past the singular function, price, and lack of backlit screen.
If your wife is planning on using the device only for reading, I would highly suggest getting her the JE-100. It is light, feels oh-so-good in the hand and of course has the great cover that comes with it. Battery life is actually not as bad as you would think. The screen is vibrant and colorful, even more so than the W1060. It doesn't turn pages instantly as fast as the W1060 though. Still, if you never had another ebook device, you would never know that. You can download Mobipocket for DRMed ebooks, which works perfectly on JE-100, including screen rotation. You cand download Alreader2 and uBook for HTML, TXT, and RTF files. You still need the dongle for wireless internet on the JE-100.
Now, since you mentioned your wife might do more with the device than use it for reading, I would say the W1060 might be the better choice. It isn't as light as the JE-100, and the screen is not as vibrant, but still near the quality of your iPhone. It doesn't come with a carrying case/cover, you will have to buy one for it. It is a very well-built device, in fact out of all the chinese devices I've used, it has the highest build quality. Since it is a very new device, and the company that makes it isn't some gigantic electronics manufacturer, there are some kinks that need to be worked out. They just fixed screen rotation, and it is works fine now. The latest firmware also seems to make the internet run faster, but there might be some extra work getting it to run on
certain routers (my D-Link DIR-655 required a static IP address for some reason). If they can get a working version of Android on this device, with the market available, it will be a very good buy indeed.
Also, if you wife doesn't mind a smaller screen, you could go for the 5-inch screen of the Archos 5 Android IT. It is a fantastic little device. Check out
Chippy's review over on Carrypad for more information.
As you can see, there seems to be pros and cons for each device, even the Archos 5. I'm still waiting for the perfect 6-7" screen device. Next year we will see a whole lot of these things coming out. I won't say wait until then to get her one, but maybe she will like whatever you get her now that the next device you get her will score you even bigger points. Always good to be on the good side of the wife...
Not to mention getting her involved with something that might interest you as much as her!
Let me know if you have any further questions.