A huge part of the appeal of the standard HN page for me is the simple, straightforward, sensible headline without the discration of images. The title guidelines and the insistence on adhering to them are a big plus in this regard.
I really like that HN is so low bandwidth. I often check the fp on shitty mobile connection and while I can't read most stories until my rss reader catches up, at least I know what people are talking about.
I enjoy this as well. Plus the raw site is faster than any app reader I've tried before and while I have somewhat fat fingers I typically don't have too much of a problem clicking links on the mobile site.