The Fourteenth Doctor’s screwdriver had some pretty amazing features that we’ve never seen before - creating a screen to view scan results, creating holographic bullet proof shields, etc!
We haven’t seen the Fifteenth Doctor do anything like that yet. Do you think he will? Do you think there is any in-universe reason for this difference? Or was it just a cool gimmick for the 60th specials? What did you think about it?
Probably more of a gimmick if I’m being honest.
I think 14’s screwdriver is the best Modern series screwdriver that we’ve had.
What I find funny is that RTD did an interview before the 60th where he said that it’s a scientific instrument and not a magic wand in any way - it has never been more of a magic wand than in The Star Beast! 
The new design is a bit odd - and the argument that was bandied around that it was changed to not resemble a gun? Sorry that is ridiculous, and if that was a honest problem why not shift back to holding it upright like in the Classic era?
We haven’t seen 15 use the sonic almost at all, which is interesting (and good; it has been used too much as a magic wand!).
That being said, I’m a bit disappointed that they designed a new sonic for 14 and gave it all these new cool features only to never use them again. It feels like wasted potential, although it is too early to say for certain.
This made me think of this classic joke! No upright sonicing, please!
The War Doctor uses it upright in that very episode in the Black Archive though 
Not to be a hater, but I kind of hope it’s just a gimmick. I like the sonic and I am actually a sonic sunglasser defender, but I think using the sonic to do everything and get out of every situation can be a bit of a cheap get out of jail free card for writers
And it’s weird because the sonic is constantly defying the logic of what a sonic should be able to do (being able to tap into Lindy’s bubble, conveniently resetting the computers in Space Babies), and yet there are moments when you’d think “Why can’t they use the sonic and get out of this?” but they don’t (like the device in Boom). The sonic can do everything (when convenient) and nothing (when convenient), and I think that makes it cheap. Same with Thirteen, she was always waving that thing around instead of doing actual hands-on work like the classic Doctors.
To be fair with that I could see the Sonic actually disturbing it and making the whole thing blow up. But other than that I do kind of agree with you.
Understandable. But if the writer truly wanted to, they could just make the device shut down or be temporarily put on hibernation 
. But the fact that we can create two different, plausible, situations out of this just shows how wibbly-wobbly the sonic’s power is.
When I think of the sonic, I miss the Terileptils.
The new sonic only makes forcefields because that particular scene needed padding, I bet.
I have learned to tolerate Ncuti’s even though it looks nothing like a screwdriver.