iPhone 14 Pro Max I'm using the Dynamic Island less than I expected

[bpeeps]

The SDK isn't even out yet for developers.
I mean, it's out but the compiler is beta, so nobody can publish an app that officially supports the Dynamic Island. It will come.

It's the same thing when we went from iPhone 4S to 5 and iPhone 5S to 6 where apps took months to update to the new screen size. It's wild to me that early upgraders are shocked the feature isn't fully supported yet.

Called it. Told ya the dynamic island was gonna go the way of the Touch Bar. A new gimmick people would play with for a couple weeks then never touch it again

You didn't call anything, it's not even supported by third party apps yet.

 

[FattiesGoneWild]

It’s just as stupid as I thought it was and a gimmick. I have the phone but, could care less about this gimmicky feature.

 

[VuvuzelaiPhone]

It’s just as stupid as I thought it was and a gimmick. I have the phone but could care less about this gimmicky feature.

Must not be so bad if you could care less...

 

[PsykX]

It's the same thing when we went from iPhone 4S to 5 and iPhone 5S to 6 where apps took months to update to the new screen size. It's wild to me that early upgraders are shocked the feature isn't fully supported yet.

Yeah, totally.

I mean, I can understand they're shocked because they pay so much to have these premium products, but the real world is that the SDK is still in beta, the compiler is still in beta, and Apple's really lagging with their dev documentation with new iOS releases. So we kind of have to figure it out most of the time. I haven't looked specifically for the Dynamic Island though.

 

[Rafterman]

You guys are so obsessed with employees wanting to work from home, it's wild.

I assume it's because of jealousy.

 

[Xand&Roby]

Yes, cuz the 48 MP for the 14 isn't an upgrade at all. 🙃

Photocamera function is the marketing cow to sell every year same product.
Really, people don’t need Hollywood experience in them devices, photocamera is good enough from decades, btw we yet fight with Siri and battery issue, 15 yrs later by the first one.

 

[davedvdy]

I assume it's because of jealousy.

They seem to conveniently forget that Apple has had flaws come up long before the Pandemic which literally has nothing to do with working from home.

 

[Xand&Roby]

The FaceID camera and other hardware behind the DI have to go somewhere, so an iPhone without a cut-out is not currently possible. Perhaps it will be in a few years, but even then I doubt DI would disappear entirely because users are finding it useful to have background information presented on screen in this manner. If anything, I think the DI behavior with a future no-cut-out iPhone would be to keep the DI for its current uses and have it disappear to zero when it's not needed.

Also, what are you quoting with "genial" solutions? What does that even mean in context?

Apple every year need some new feature to sell old hardware.
Now introduces fake notch on MacBook, then it will be replace by fake DI when real DI will disappear from iPhone.
Even today Apple screens are different only ‘cause Apple revenue is more important for the company instead of a coerent product line.

 

[Ryan1524]

Apple every year need some new feature to sell old hardware.
Now introduces fake notch on MacBook, then it will be replace by fake DI when real DI will disappear from iPhone.
Even today Apple screens are different only ‘cause Apple revenue is more important for the company instead of a coerent product line.

So you’re suggesting Apple prioritize maintaining a consistent feature set at all times, instead of giving customers the option to buy an older model for less money?

 

[BellSystem]

You guys are so obsessed with employees wanting to work from home, it's wild.

You guys are so obsessed with turning a passive joke into a serious unrelated debate, it's wild.

 

[calstanford]

It’s just as stupid as I thought it was and a gimmick. I have the phone but, could care less about this gimmicky feature.

Don't worry. It'll be gone in two years with the iPhone 16 when they can put the sensors under the screen. Then suddenly no more magic islanding.

 

[transpo1]

Apple every year need some new feature to sell old hardware.
Now introduces fake notch on MacBook, then it will be replace by fake DI when real DI will disappear from iPhone.
Even today Apple screens are different only ‘cause Apple revenue is more important for the company instead of a coerent product line.

I do agree we'll only have the Dynamic Island for 2-3 years; but this is the nature of design- you solve one problem and by solving it, introduce another problem- in this case, how to keep that area useful. Yes, it will take some adjustment, but Apple has been rather brilliant here because they made the (for now) necessary problem of the pill and dot shape cutouts arguably an asset to save screen real estate.

Don't worry. It'll be gone in two years with the iPhone 16 when they can put the sensors under the screen. Then suddenly no more magic islanding.

Yes, the DI will probably leave when the pill cutout is gone in 2-3 years or less but it will interesting to see if they keep the Face ID animations, etc., in the same place after that. It would be strange if they just put them back at the bottom of the screen where they used to be.

 

[JamesMcFlyJR]

The Steve Jobs one always gets me.

The guy who said you were holding it wrong and thought an Apple Pencil sticking out of the bottom of an iPad lightning port was a good idea.

steve jobs was dead before the apple pencil even came out..

 

[C-Dubs]

FWIW, in relation to what the OP said, I've been using the dynamic island more as I use the phone more. Mostly when I'm switching between apps while driving for a ride-share; if I need to change the music, having the little "widget" in the top to just tap has been helpful. Same with swithcing between the ride-share app and the navigation app.

I do wonder why they didn't just keep the notch though. It was fine. But I hope over time the Dynamic Island become more and more useful (it's already way more useful than the touch bar ever was).

 

[Jackbequickly]

Is anybody else on the same boat?
I've upgraded from the 13 Pro Max, one of the reasons (apart from camera, display and a fresh new battery) was the Dynamic Island

I got so hyped when they presented it, and I thought it was a clever UI/UX design.

But now that it's almost 2 weeks that I've had the 14 PM I'm using it less than what I expected. I don't listen to music that much on the phone, mostly through carplay. People that use public transportation will use it more I believe.

Also there were already two other places where you could control music.

Honestly I would prefer to have the notch back as it doesn't interfere with wide YouTube videos

Also, I believe this pill is more noticeable than the notch for two reasons:
The notch merged with the rest of the phone. The pill having that useless space above makes it more noticeable

The pill sits lower than the notch

‘Like the notch, I no longer even see it. The DI was not a big deal to me.

 

[Xand&Roby]

So you’re suggesting Apple prioritize maintaining a consistent feature set at all times, instead of giving customers the option to buy an older model for less money?

How did you understand something completely different from what was written?

 

[Ifti]

Seems like the gimmick is fading in the first few weeks.....

 

[Xand&Roby]

I do agree we'll only have the Dynamic Island for 2-3 years; but this is the nature of design- you solve one problem and by solving it, introduce another problem- in this case, how to keep that area useful. Yes, it will take some adjustment, but Apple has been rather brilliant here because they made the (for now) necessary problem of the pill and dot shape cutouts arguably an asset to save screen real estate.

Yes, the DI will probably leave when the pill cutout is gone in 2-3 years or less but it will interesting to see if they keep the Face ID animations, etc., in the same place after that. It would be strange if they just put them back at the bottom of the screen where they used to be.

In reality, in the design you try to solve a problem but above all you try not to create others, while Apple creates them specifically to then pretend to solve them against bad payments.
Obviously the reference is not just to the DI, first I referred to the screens: look at how many useless technologies just so you don't have to insert oled screens anywhere. ‘To save consumers crazy prices’? No, we already have those. To sell the right product tomorrow, but it will have other flaws.

 

[Bobajobbob]

The DI is pretty meh for the time being. As apps begin to support it then maybe that will change but I suspect it will be much like widgets. Nice to have but not a game changer. What I would really like to see is the ability to turn it off in certain scenarios (video and games) so as to maximise the lit pixels on screen. Forcing a bigger dark patch on screen when it could be relaxed for certain applications seems counterintuitive to me

 

[fatTribble]

I mean, the notch is literally like someone took a notch shape to bite out of the side of a full-screen video, right?

It’s an Apple Bite 😂

 

[fatTribble]

To me it’s all about evolution. When the first iPhone was released we didn’t complain about the screen quality. It was an improvement over what we had.

Before the notch we had bezels.
By eliminating the bezels you get more screen in a smaller iPhone.
So I’d take a notch over bezels.

Now we have Dynamic Island instead of the notch. They’re using it as a status area. Personally I like that better than the notch.

At some point Apple will likely be able to hide the hardware under the screen or in some other way. That would be yet another evolution.

 

[orionquest]

Apple marketing at it's finest. It's a gimmick feature to keep people invested in the product. It worked.
And most likely will fall into abandonware as Apple moves onto the the next feature to sell you on.

 

[Coreymac84]

I'll wait to pass judgement after 16.1. Little things I have enjoyed about it so far....Charging notifications, low battery notifications, AirPods pairing, Navigation, Call time, Background music. For me though, I find the way calls appear and the way the FaceID authentication expands from the DI so much better than the middle of the screen. It's much more aesthetically pleasing in many different situations.

 

[redheeler]

Dynamic Island is 70% marketing, 25% software, and 5% hardware. Apple has done such an amazing job marketing this thing which otherwise would be seen by everyone as an admission of failure to eliminate any non-screen area and go all-screen. Marketing people should take note at how this negative was spun into a positive by Apple's genius marketing team, this is some of the best marketing I've ever seen...

 

[transpo1]

Apple marketing at it's finest. It's a gimmick feature to keep people invested in the product. It worked.
And most likely will fall into abandonware as Apple moves onto the the next feature to sell you on.

Yes, we know that— they’re only doing it to justify not putting all the Face ID gear and camera below the display. When they can produce massive quantities of phones with under display tech, they’ll drop it. But it’s actually a pretty damn good justification for the cutout. Remember, we just had an immovable notch for 5 years. Never bothered me but lots of other people hated it.