I agree. This seems like day one stuff. Furthermore, these are the reasons I'm leaving Evernote after trying it out for a couple hours and several jarring UI issues.
1. The one you just stated - if I click on a note, I most certainly want to edit it.
2. Related to #1 - having to click the 'back' button twice to go back to menu or exit a note. Once to 'leave' the edit mode, and again to leave the note.
3. There doesn't seem to be a right click dropdown menu for cut/copy/paste/search functions (at least on chromebooks)
4. The audacious choice to have any sort of an easy-to-find 'suggestions' submission so I can tell you for free why your product lost a user.