I found this post after I installed the other two apps, and you are right. Once you get used to it, the new way has more to offer. But they threw it at people with no learning curve. Even with your post, I had to go though things a number of times before I got it. It could have used a video. Regardless, they should have left the old option for people who want it. Providing something "better" isn't better if it does less for people who don't spend hours researching how to get the basic functionality back with unexplained gestures.
In a nutshell, a quick upwards flick in the middle did what it used to do. An upwards slide, holding your finger on the screen after you slide up, does what the left button used to do. Using that center bar essentially as a scroll bar, sliding the bar itself with your finger after touching it, does what the right upwards swipe used to do, except it can be done in either direction.
Granted, the old way of replacing the buttons with swipe gestures wouldn't have been obvious to anybody who didn't know how to use it, but the system explained it well enough if you chose it. This time, the animation on the screen where you choose swipe does a poor job showing how it works.
