Google Maps Posts Video of Nexus 6P With No App Drawer
The Android community is a bit up in arms today after Google Maps' Twitter account posted a short video yesterday that appears to show off a Nexus 6P without an app drawer. This would normally not be heavily scrutinized, but there have been several rumors that Google will abandon the app drawer in Android N. This past week at MWC 2016, Samsung and LG added fuel to those rumors by adding an option to away the app drawer in their Android skins for the G5 and S7.
If you blink, you pretty much miss the opening shot that shows a Nexus 6P running Google Now Launcher WITHOUT an app drawer. This could of course just mean that Google Now Launcher is getting an update soon and the app drawer will be gone long before Android N is unveiled this summer. One other telling detail from the video is that the Google app has the word "Search" written under it. In the current version of the Google Now Launcher this is certainly not the case. On the other hand, this could just be a quick poorly done mock-up for a Google Maps video that we're all overthinking.
If this really is the end of the app drawer officially, I have mixed feelings. On one hand I'm sure it'll draw more iOS converts, but I also think Android's differences make it special. In any case this is unlikely to affect me as I'm using Nova Launcher and Action Launcher 3 on almost all of my phones. What about you? Would you be bummed to see Google Now Launcher lose the app drawer? Will Google replace the app drawer with a better way to organize apps? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and on Twitter!
via: Droid Life