Almost certainly it's because I'm just used to the buttons. What are the replacement gestures? I'll turn it on and give it a go. But trying to operate my partner's phone before I turned the buttons on was fucked. "Argh how to I get out of this full screen bullshit, where's the back button?!"
I've found a wobbly swipe easier to do than hit the back button when cycling on shitty road surfaces.