Steel and Carbon brakes
 

How different are they in the methods of application?

Carbon brakes work better warm than cold. They wear with the number of applications rather than with the force of the application.

The majority of the wear on the carbon brakes occur when they are cold, by using autobrakes you can mitigate the wear because of the continuous application.

Carbon brakes usually more effective than steel. Work better when up to a reasonable temperature. Wear is proportional to the number of brake applications rather than the intensity. Some aircraft have brake fans to help cool carbon brakes. Airbus, God bless 'em, placed the carbon brakes on the 320 inside a closed housing to ensure they'd get hot and that the operators would opt for (expensive) cooling fans. Won't cool for hours even at -50C in CRZ.