Sounds like what you have is the Kindle 2 (the Kindle 3 only came out last thursday)

I think the Kindle 2 is slightly easier to hold because of the placement of the page turn buttons...as long as it's inside a case for me. (too slippery by itself)

I also miss the rubbery back of the Kindle 1...and those giant page turn buttons.

I'm hoping that once I get a case for my Kindle 3 that it'll be easier for me to hold. I am a bit afraid that it's skinny little page turn buttons might be a drawback on it. I noticed last night when I was playing with it, and adding books to it, that it was easier for me to lay the naked K3 down to read and press the buttons. (less chance of it sliding out of slippery fingers if it was flat on my desk...hurts my neck to read that way tho)

But, I really love the other improvements. The audio menu was great. I think that'll come in handy if the MS zaps my optic nerve again, and it's TTS is much easier to listen to. I'll have to search for books that actually have the TTS enabled on them...stupid publishers have them turned off for some of the books I read. At least I can email fan fiction to my Kindle and it can read that out loud to me if I want to. (fan fiction is free, and sometimes can be really good)