I've noticed drastically different page turn rate depending on the type of file. Unfortunately, Google Books pdfs are very long. Many Google books also have an epub format, and I've found those to be much faster. Google Books epub are ocr, so the zoom, highlight, etc tools work. On the Google pdf files I've tried, they are image files so no searching, highlighting, etc (which is no different from when I opened those same pdfs on my pc, with Adobe 8.1 - no search, highlighting, etc). Also, Project Gutenberg books seem to be epub ocr. They page faster than the Google pdfs, too. Probably because they aren't image files, but text.

These are my own observations, based on the books that I've downloaded. Your books are likely different and may produce different results. But it's something to look at.

Oh, yes, I also have the lcd turning itself on (even when on the floor with no-one near it). Don't know what to tell you about that one. Wifi is great in my house, and I can browse faster on my eDGe than on our ancient Win XP laptop. I've never had it 'lose' the connection. Hope tech support can help you on that.