LG’s new UX 5.0, available on the company’s 2016 flagship, the G5, lacks one thing that long-time users of not just LG devices but Android devices as a whole may be used to: an app drawer. The decision by LG to not include an app drawer on the G5 took many by surprise. The company says that UX 5.0 will eventually get an app drawer. However, before that happens, the company is now providing a launcher with an app drawer for those that need it badly. Or, more reasonably, for choice.
The launcher is available on LG Smartworld and it looks like the launcher on LG’s older devices. Well, you’re forgiven if you’ve also never heard anyone talking about LG Smartworld or even used it. It’s LG’s own app store of sorts.
The app drawer debate is long and tiring. Since the Android N preview has an app drawer in the Google launcher therein, there should be some sort of relief: the app drawer is not going anywhere.
Either way, third party custom launchers do just fine. Depending on someone’s tastes, they make for much more likeable alternatives than even the main launchers that devices ship with. They are more customizable and flexible.
LG’s main competitor in its home market and also globally in the mobile market, Samsung, is trialling an app drawerless launcher in the Galaxy S7 hidden under the Galaxy Labs app, a hub for experimental features. Companies like Xiaomi and Huawei, the fifth and third largest smartphone vendors in the world respectively, have shipped their devices with user interfaces that eschew the app drawer in favour of an Apple iOS-like simple approach where apps reside on the home screen for long.
