To begin with, it is important to understand what Dynamic Island is all about. This is the marketing name that Apple came up with for the new pill-shaped notch, which has become one of the key differences between the flagship smartphones from the iPhone 14 Pro lineup, as well as the base models of the iPhone 14. To play with Dynamic Island, Apple added mass to iOS software chips with beautiful animations. It was they (and also the new camera system of the latest generation of top-end Apple smartphones) that made me splurge on the iPhone 14 Pro. But after a few days of use, it became extremely clear that Dynamic Island is not worth it and in general is far from what many imagine.
“Pill” Dynamic Island distracts much more “bangs”
I have been using Apple smartphones for more than a year, and before the iPhone 14 Pro, I had a company device with a classic “bangs”, which today seems to me a much more justified solution. The fact is that after a few hours of use, the same “unibrow” usually actually ceased to catch the eye and ceased to distract. This also applies to the iPhone 14, which he abandoned in favor of the iPhone 14 Pro. The latter uses Dynamic Island – a fairly large “pill” that constantly attracts attention. She is not going to be invisible, so it is impossible not to pay attention to her.
Surprisingly, I’ve been using the iPhone 14 Pro for three days now, but I’m still distracted by Dynamic Island. I just can’t get used to it even after such a long time. This made me look at Apple’s next incredible “innovation” a little differently. By and large, if you do not take into account the marketing name, Dynamic Island will immediately become the most common notch in the screen, which also looks rather dumb. Yes, it is also located noticeably lower than the classic “monobrow”, which is especially striking when using a light theme. With night mode, Dynamic Island’s interface is not as noticeable, so it’s a little less annoying.
Just look at the picture above in the text: this is how Dynamic Island looks without the vaunted “dynamics” – in a calm state without auxiliary applications. It corny “hangs” over the screen, distracting the owner of the iPhone 14 Pro from absolutely everything he does. You will surely notice this when actively using Telegram, WhatsApp, many other social networks and instant messengers, as well as almost all software with a light design. The only exceptions will be programs that, in any mode, darken the upper part of the screen and thereby muffle the general bewilderment about the absurdity of the decision. Yes, when you spend so much money on the iPhone 14 Pro, you hardly expect such a setup from him.
Surprisingly, when switching to the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple actually forces the newly minted owners of the flagship smartphone to use the dark theme of its interface design. On a lighter one, the new neckline looks too defiant and even somehow strange. After actually using the gadget, you are no longer surprised why Apple itself uses dark design in its iPhone 14 Pro promotional materials. This is an unambiguous hint – whether you like it or not, you will always turn it on. It seems that this is the only way to reduce the degree of your disappointment.
If you hold the iPhone 14 Pro vertically, it immediately becomes clear that Dynamic Island is noticeably lower than the classic “bangs”. That is why when watching videos on YouTube with an aspect ratio of 16 to 9, you can immediately see how ridiculously the new “pill” cuts off pieces of the image. In the pictures above, it is clearly seen that it is impossible to get rid of it either in the classic display or when stretching the image to full screen. It’s hard to say how Apple could allow this to happen, because this use case seems obvious. However, there is nothing to be done about it.
Not all applications have useful features for Dynamic Island
Of course, all the misunderstandings of the iPhone 14 Pro listed above could be forgiven if Dynamic Island was “dynamic” enough for every user. For example, I specifically have some activities with a “tablet” that are displayed only when using the traditional Music application, as well as Spotify and WhatsApp. For ten years of using different smartphones, the timer has come in handy for me a couple of times, so it makes no sense to bring it to Dynamic Island. And there is simply nothing else that can interact with the API of the new cutout on my device. In the future, taxi services like Uber will work with Dynamic Island, but this is not yet provided. And the meaning of all this is under the same big question.
It’s a pity, but the fact remains – as of September 2022, Dynamic Island remains virtually useless for me. Moreover, even when using applications that somehow interact with the new “tablet”, it doesn’t get any better. You turn on “Music”, and immediately you get something like a notification that it is running in the background. You need to hold your finger on Dynamic Island to expand the widget to control playback, or simply tap to open the application itself. It is difficult to say that this makes sense, given the location of the “pill”. It is much more convenient not to reach for the top of the screen, but to go to the same “Music” using the shortcut closer to the bottom. Moreover, you can use the multitasking menu for the same.
The same goes for using WhatsApp. When making voice calls, a rather beautiful animation appears at the top of the screen, which informs that a call is in progress, the microphone is active right now, and so on. You can play around with the quick features of Dynamic Island, but again, doing all this at the top of the screen is not so convenient. So it turns out that Apple’s new “tablet” is used to notify about events that the user actually knows about. He turns on “Music” and hears it, but Dynamic Island says it’s playing. Is this innovation useful? It turns out, not very much.
It’s possible that Dynamic Island will get better in the future.
Yes, probably, by the end of the year, interaction with Dynamic Island will be mastered by a larger number of developers who are releasing third-party software for the iPhone. In this case, the situation – at least in theory – should improve. However, it makes sense to judge a new product exactly when it was released, and not to hope for the future. It’s a pity, but in its current form, Dynamic Island is not “dynamic” enough – for me, that’s for sure. I’m sure it would be much better if Apple stopped at the traditional “bangs”, but added “tablet” chips to it. But that did not happen. I bought the iPhone 14 Pro only because of Dynamic Island, but I was completely disappointed in it. It’s a pity.
This is a translation of a Digital Trends article.
Source: Trash Box
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
