In the precious few months since its announcement, the LG G5 has received a great deal of attention, as well as a heaping helping of criticism. Curiously it seems like every should-be-pro has turned into a mini-scandal of sorts. The decision to make with metal for example, has resulted in a plastic primer predicament. The modular methodology has seen the return of “Gapgate”. Even the user interface itself, which LG sought to clean up and refine was not immune due to the curious and deliberate decision to remove the App drawer.

Until now, those who were seeking an official LG offering had to make due with last year’s UX 4.0 launcher but, as Droid Life points out, the company has now made good on promises to release a launcher that makes use of this year’s UX 5.0:

To find the function, users will need to navigate to the Settings menu, then select About Phone, Update Center, and finally App Updates. There should be a listing for a “Home & app drawer” and “Home selector” downloads, however they may not yet be available in all markets and for all carrier variants yet.

Smart signs or tough times?

LG’s decision to remove the App drawer may have shocked some, but some competitors have been doing this for some time now, including Lenovo. Google itself may ultimately be seeking to remove the drawer from the next version of Android, currently dubbed “Android N”, something that was discussed thoroughly in a feature earlier this year.

LG has often attempted to think forwardly as evident by its frequent inclusion of microSD support for cards up to 2TB despite the current maximum which is currently capped at 512GB. It is unknown as to exactly why the App drawer removal was decided upon, but the decision to reverse the division suggests consumer reactions were not so appreciative.

Even with the option to restore the drawer now available, the question becomes just how big a toll these various “issues” have taken on the hardware itsef. Especially with keen competition from domestic rival Samsung and what many feel is an impressive offering by HTC, the LG G5 has been deemed just a “Proof of Concept” by some, a judgement that many also levied at its original G Flex.

With the App drawer now back in play, does this improve the G5’s likability? Have you downloaded it already? Hit up the comments section and let us know!