CP neither of my Kindles have done that either.
I have an iPhone so of course I could read on my phone as well, but it really strains my eyes after awhile and I can't just curl up on the sofa with the phone the way I could a book. I read a lot and the Kindle is a much more comfortable reading experience.
Also? Battery life. CP, if you go on long trips at all your phone is going to die on you but your Kindle won't. I charge my Kindle maybe once a month. I have to charge my phone daily, sometimes more than once a day if I'm using certain features heavily.
The Kindle is meant to simulate the paper-book reading experience. Like you said before, it is low-tech on purpose. The "high tech" Kindle is the Fire, but that is basically just another tablet.
CP, if you got a defective Kindle, return it. Amazon has a very good return/replace policy. Did you buy it from Amazon.cn? If you bought it from a seller (and in the future, with Kindles, just buy from Amazon. My Amazon.cn purchased Kindle is no different from my USA bought one) find out what you need to do to get it replaced. Amazon will usually send you a new one right away.