They removed the home button on iPhones, which was a net loss, since face recognition is much less reliable and easy to use than fingerprint, and requires a visually-disruptive bar overlay to indicate you need to swipe up.
You have to look at the device to open it. It's by nature another step of distraction. Grabbing a device and having your thumb on it opening it up so that it's ready to go by the time it reaches your eyes... it's faster. What gesture gets you back to the main/home screen as quickly? I still regret (somewhat) moving away from the SE, and might move back. I found an old one in the desk and it's making me want to move back.