There are a few other UI missteps — I had to switch to Nova launcher on the double to
get my apps drawer back — but otherwise it stays pretty much out - of - the - way and there are actually a couple of welcome customizations here.
Like sliding up to
get the app drawer, then laterally to get app pages.
Otherwise, you can stick with one layer mode if you're not looking to
get an app drawer on the interface.
ZUI has a few redeeming qualities — the ROM offers the Google Now Launcher as default, and that means
you get an app drawer.
I'd be okay with installing a 3rd party launcher in order to
get an app drawer (and it's what I already do, actually).
No matter how much you spend, you're not
getting an app drawer from this Chinese phone, which is a deal breaker for some Android users.
By default
you get app drawer, which is a good thing and you can keep it that way unless you like to have all your apps on home screen.
Not exact matches
On the Samsung side of things with Touchwiz, you'll be
getting a redesigned
app drawer, along with bug fixes and stability improvements.
It doesn't show up in the
app drawer but there's Gmail and Google Drive and once you sign in with one of those the Play Store is accessible but there still is no icon for it so it's not easy to
get to without using a separate launcher.
Home screens behave as they currently do on Android (swipe left or right to navigate, open an
app drawer, retrieve widgets, and so on), except you now
get a customizable «favorites tray» that resembles the dock in iOS.
For example, what is the «
app drawer» and why does Market not
get past the terms of service agreement?
If you have any trouble
getting it to install, go open the «NookColor Tools»
app in the
app drawer, un-check «Allow Non-Market
Apps» then make sure to re-check the box again.
As mentioned in the
getting started tips guide for the eReader Pro, Google Play doesn't show up in the
app drawer initially.
The lack of an
app drawer may both some folks, but it's easy enough to
get used to after a while.
You are
getting the standard Nougat notification shade, Google Now with a swipe to right, the
app drawer with a swipe up... you
get the drill.
It's not just the
app drawer that's
getting the axe here.
This is a deliberate choice by Huawei and
gets rid of the
app drawer, leaving you dependent on folders to keep things organized.
But you can still swipe up from the bottom to open the
app drawer, swipe left to right to
get to Google Now, etc..
The one you'll notice right away is a custom launcher with round icons and a new swipe - up gesture to
get to the
app drawer.
You'll
get the sliding All
Apps drawer, folder styles, animated caret indicator and more.
For starters, the Pixel launcher
gets rid of the
App Drawer button on the home row, and now a fifth app shortcut can appear inste
App Drawer button on the home row, and now a fifth
app shortcut can appear inste
app shortcut can appear instead.
When you
get back up, go ahead and open the Pixel Dock
app, which you'll now find in your
app drawer.
The last thing I'll touch on before
getting into specific
apps is the all - encompassing
app drawer.
While Sony's UI still contains a fair amount of bloatware, overall the manufacturer's skin seems toned down from previous versions, and fairly close to stock Android, including swiping to the right from home to
get to Google Now and a pre-installed
app drawer (unlike LG).
Google made an entirely new launcher for its Pixel devices, and it's
got a lot of cool features such as a swipe gesture to open your
app drawer and an entire home screen page dedicated to Google search.
If you still aren't convinced, this isn't all Nova Launcher can do — it's one of the most powerful tools you can
get on Android, allowing you to change the icon theme, hide
apps from the
app drawer, and more.
If your Android Wear watch has multiple buttons on the body, these buttons can be programmed to launch specific
apps so you're not stuck frequently swiping through the
app drawer to
get to them.
On this iteration they've unnecessarily removed with the
app drawer and use on - screen navigation buttons that are most difficult to
get used to — even if that is part of Android.
Last year, there was a bit of a trend where the
app drawer on some non-Chinese Android phones
got tucked away.
Whether you're using the non-root or Xposed
app, when you
get back up, go ahead and launch Unique Controls, which you'll now find in your
app drawer.
Jump into the
app drawer and find the «Nova Settings» icon to
get into Nova's menu.
You won't
get a dedicated button for the
app drawer as well, but this has created room for another
app shortcut.
There are some aspects of the software experience that can take some
getting used to though, including, but not limited to, the fact that an
app drawer isn't available, leaving users dependent on folders to keep things organized.
But I am
getting used to the lack of an
app drawer and it no longer bothers me.
Like Android N, the
app drawer drags up from the bottom of the screen, and you can swipe upwards from any part of the screen to
get to it.
Limitations of Android itself hold it back, like any launcher of this type, and while I didn't enjoy the
app drawer experience, it
gets the job done.
These screenshots were taken from an HTC One M8 device, we didn't
get screenshots from the Homscreen,
App drawer, lockscreen or the Notifications bar yet.
When you
get back up, go ahead and launch the «Niwatori»
app that you'll now find in your
app drawer.
They can add pops of color from the notification images they pull in, and if they can't
get one of those, at least they use the
app's colors instead of pulling a color to match your icon pack, thus making the dots blend in with your
app icons, especially in the
app drawer.
The overlay
gets rid of Android's traditional
apps drawer, like Huawei's EMUI does, and puts all
apps on the home screens, a la iOS.
When you
get back up, go ahead and open the NavBar music visualizer
app that you'll now find in your
app drawer.
Since this is the same interface as the S8's, you
get an updated launcher where accessing the
app drawer is done by swiping up or down on the home screen, with the option to remove the
apps button from the home screen dock.
The swipe up from the home screens to
get to the
app drawer is a particular highlight.
On first glance, the company has done well in keeping the UI relatively clean — there is no
app drawer, and LG has placed all its
apps within another folder, so you basically
get two homescreens on the device out of the box, which feels nice and uncluttered.
When you
get back up, go ahead and open the EventLock
app that you'll now find in your
app drawer.
The Pixel C also
gets the new solid nav buttons found on the Pixel phones and you can simply swipe up on the home screen to open the
app drawer.
To
get started, open your phone's main Settings
app from your
app drawer.
That said, I'm not a fan of the MIUI launcher, which mindlessly apes iOS in doing away with an
app drawer; the software is also a bit finicky about granting permissions to
apps, so you might find yourself re-enabling certain settings to
get apps like LastPass to work as they should.
With Night Mode, you can
get a dark background for your Nova Launcher settings,
app drawer,
drawer icon, and even the search bar!
Take an traditional Android UI as we're used to it here and remove the
app drawer, and you've
got the basics of EMUI.