Landed at EWR on a UA flight from BOM on Jan 3, with a tight 40 min connection window due to a slow first leg. Was using GE for the first time, so ran up to the kiosk with passport and boarding pass in hand. A CBP officer was standing right there at the kiosks, telling people to put their passports away, which I was confused by based on the instructions during the GE onboarding, but did anyway. I'm 5' 8", the camera was already at a reasonable height, so I hit take photo. 3 seconds later, the receipt was in my hand, containing my name, flight number and photo, without any data entry from me. I was confused, but grateful to make my connection. The officer who had been standing there glanced at my receipt and waved me through without any questions. After collecting my bags, I got to the customs line which was just an officer sitting at the booth taking people's kiosk receipts (the new admission kiosks for the non-GE folks), and I was surprised to see a second (empty) line on the right for GE folks going to the same officer, who confirmed if I was global entry (a lot of people were incorrectly getting in this line), took my receipt and waved me through.
Amazing process, and so quick, global entry has already been worth all the signup hassle just from the time saved on this one trip. Alas I was still not able to make my connection due to United's extremely slow delivery of my bags (despite priority tags), ah well.
There was no point where I was asked about having food or any other contraband.
After reading this forum thread, I checked my I94 online to check if the right visa category was used (I'm an Indian citizen with a valid tourist visa and work visa, and should be entering on my work visa), and they indeed picked the wrong one without any input from me, so I'll now have to follow up with my immigration lawyer to see how I can correct it without having to visit the CBP in person.