The "no back light" thing is what turned me off of the Kindle. Which is not to say if it had a backlight, I'd drop $400 on it. But that was the deal breaker for me.
The reasoning on it is that "it's like paper, it's an electronic book. You don't get a back light with a book, do you?"
No, but neither do you get search capability, which Kindle has. Or a host of other things. I think a light is an obvious thing to include. A side-light, actually, since the e-ink technology isn't compatible with a "back light" system. The failure -- refusal, actually -- to include a light on a unit that costs $400 makes me wonder what other design decisions were made using this same sort of reasoning. And it scares me.
Of course you could get a book light. But you'd (or rather "I'd") never carry it. Then, when lighting conditions sucked, I'd be stuck, probably using my $20 cell phone to provide light to read my $400 Kindle by.
All that having been said, though, I still think it's a neat idea. I hope you enjoy it, and suspect that you will! (And I hope the next version has a freakin' light!)
Dave