Hey guys,
I received my Aura HD this afternoon, it's literally the first e-reader I have touched, much less used. Given that background, here are my thoughts:
Physically it has nice build quality, no creaking or untoward sounds when handling it normally. Rapping on the rear of the device makes a hollow sound, which is obvious and acceptable considering the way it's made. The shape of the rear makes the device comfortable, as is widely reported. The only thing I find strange is the red color of the power button/slider, but really I don't care too much about it.
The screen looks great, as I would expect an e-reader to look. I find the page transitions to be disconcerting, however. I was expecting an animation like I've seen on reading apps on full-on tablets. I suppose that's impossible for these displays? The responsiveness of the display is alright, the touches are always detected immediately but there's a lag between the touch and the screen displaying that the key has been depressed (in the case of the on-screen keyboard).
The glow / light feature of the screen is really good, it's very easy on the eyes and uniform as far as I can tell. It has a light blue hue.
Overall, I'm happy with the purchase.
Edit: One thing though: the screen displays an inversion of the black and white screen elements when the whole or a portion of the screen is changed like in the video I've uploaded here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoGpl_K4-Hg
Is this normal for e-readers?