I'd have to agree with you that gesture interactions tend to feel more natural then typical button pressing (e.g. pinch-to-zoom), but can be a little awkward for first time users. A customer who stops by a mobile phone kiosk while walking through their local mall might not know how to handle a BB10 device without assistance from a sales associate. However, gestures often become second-nature, and users rarely find themselves asking "how do I do this again?"
Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with the screen's bezel, which should mitigate the number of times this gesture is unnecessarily actuated.
> Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with the screen's bezel
Hopefully that works well. However when playing games it's pretty easy to hit the bezel when you're aiming for something on the edge of the screen. I always used to have this problem (and still do) on Android phones with their capacitive / on screen buttons.
Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with the screen's bezel, which should mitigate the number of times this gesture is unnecessarily actuated.