Understand that what you appreciate in award booking is the old CO engine (SHARES) that the UA folks hated and which created so many problems for the merger.
For awards, it has been the best part of the UA/CO merger.
Prior to that one was limited to AC or ANA website for checking then one had to call in with UA and spend an hour or two on the phone booking the award.
Actually, even with the new UA/CO site, I still had to spend half an hour or so on the phone with UA booking my last award, because the UA website would not do 4-leg award flights, even though they're legal.
So it still depends on what you're doing.