The first reviews dropped nearly the same instant Amazon announced Kindle. Then the blogosphere treated us to their thoughts shortly after UPS dropped off the smiley boxes.

Now, we're getting reviews from folks that have lived with the device for a week, long enough to get a feel for how the reader fits into the daily routine. Julian "rabbit" Murdoch of Gamers With Jobs provides one such review [via Slashdot] and in it he addresses Kindle's most polarizing feature: its design.

That evening I just read. The Kindle disappears, and I realize how important the design of the book is, and how strongly I disagree with so many web comments about it's supposedly horrendous un-holdability. The instructions for the thing say that it's designed to be used with the cover on (even though all of the marketing shows it with the cover off). Being a weak pawn, I tend to follow directions, and I can confirm that with the cover on, it's extremely difficult to accidentally hit any buttons while reading, and the left hand spine becomes a natural handle. The super-matte surfaces of both the screen and the frame make it readable and un-distracting at any angle, in any light. The next page buttons on both sides make it usable in more positions than a normal book, and in no case does it ever require two hands to use.

I suppose you can respect a design that doesn't strive for hideousness, but rather aims to disappear into your book-devouring life. But you'll forgive me if I want to have my cake and eat it too. I'd rather it disappear a little more sleekly.

Our own CEO's weighs in with his thoughts on the device within the context of his background here (Hi Alan!).

And Scoble? Well, he's not terribly amused. "Whoever designed this should be fired and the team should start over," he writes. You can view his rant (he brings up a couple of good points, though) in the embedded video after the click of infinite wonders (aka, "read more").