In playing with my friend's e-Ink Kindles, and then playing with my new Kindle Fire, I would answer "no: this is a step backwards"; note: I also love reading on my iPhone 4 (which is actually where I get books; the Kindle Fire is just for development), so it is not because I'm attached to the e-Ink. The Kindle Fire just has this feel of the software having been roughly hacked together at the last minute...
I realize they probably couldn't have for numerous reasons, but the simpleton opinion is: they really should have delayed shipping it, and by the time they get it together the existing poor press is likely to have already killed them. (That that happens is something I think is stupid, btw, and causes poor incentives to not ship things: old news should rot faster, and people should care more about updating old articles with "the tiny software update they released a week after I wrote this article makes everything I said obsolete".)
I realize they probably couldn't have for numerous reasons, but the simpleton opinion is: they really should have delayed shipping it, and by the time they get it together the existing poor press is likely to have already killed them. (That that happens is something I think is stupid, btw, and causes poor incentives to not ship things: old news should rot faster, and people should care more about updating old articles with "the tiny software update they released a week after I wrote this article makes everything I said obsolete".)