I haven't seen the big Kindle, but I own the Kindle 2. Page turns are faster on a Kindle than they are with a paper book, although it's not as convenient for flipping ahead a few pages when you're quickly scanning for specific information. You notice page turns no more than you would with a paper book when reading novels, but it could be irritating for reference materials or text books.

I thought they all had a search feature to make looking for specific info faster. Is that not the case?

Yes, but it's a pain to use - the keyboard isn't all that good for typing, and the on-screen response time of any interaction is pretty slow (maybe 0.5s)... still, great device for front-to-back reading.

Yes.IIRC even the Kindle 1 had search.

Good question.

This is what has stopped me from even considering an ebook so far.