I have those too, but again, if you set it to 8 points + center, you have to press it quite a few times to snap to the right side and then the D pad to move up or down.. It's OK, but would be perfect with ability to change movement speed. The position of the eyes vary from shot to shot, and at f1.4, you can't risk to focus and then re-frame.
IF the white rectangle would stay ON in manual focus too (not only AF), then yes, it would move faster, because with AF lens the white rectangle moves faster and I can keep the D pad pressed and will still continue to move. Even diagonally.
But I doubt that is possible... so only workaround would be magic zoom box to move at same speed and continuously.
This method would shave off a good 2-3 seconds from every shot (with MF).