Every Pixel Counts - iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island
One island we would be happy to be stranded on - Apple's new feature called Dynamic Island! At effect we were super excited to hear more about this new feature and how it looks to revolutionise Apple iPhone's user interface once again.
On 7th Sept 2022, Apple announced another exciting lineup of new products and updates. With the likes of a new Watch range, Airpods, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Pro. But one small-ish feature did catch our eye – Dynamic Island!
On the new iPhone 14 Pro, we were introduced to an exciting new innovation called Dynamic Island. This appears at the top of the iPhone interface in place of the audio speaker and front-facing camera. But what excites us the most is how Apple managed to harmonise the complexity between hardware and software requirements.
Our Head of UI, Darren was super excited about this – This feature alone makes the new iPhone 14 Pro an exciting one. To make a small space on your screen have such a big, playful, and engaging impact has done it for me. Well done Apple.
Credit: Apple
The Dynamic Island beautifully animates to present ongoing activities such as music and maps, as well as provide vital confirmations such as Face ID to unlock and confirm payment authentication.
Our Digital Designer, Dias shared his thoughts – Looking past the silly naming convention, the ‘Dynamic Island’ is one of the most playful, refreshing and genuinely useful UI solutions I’ve seen in a long time, transforming the very thing causing the problem into further utility for the device.
It would be fascinating to see how this feature evolves as it aims to present greater information and activities. Would it evolve to provide an even better multi-tasking experience as it could incorporate FaceTime video calling within the same space? Or perhaps provide a richer experience in notifying the user of messages, sports and news headlines, and much, much more!
Our Technical Director, Christian mentions – I’d see this useful for stuff like Deliveroo arrivals, Uber arrivals, and those little notifications without having to switch to the app to read more.
Here at effect, the design team always aims to utlise as much UI real estate on the screen and present content that can be accessed and consumed easily on any device. Apple’s fine example in understanding the hardware requirements and using this knowledge to an advantage resulted in a UI that made the most of the onscreen real estate available. At its core – Every Pixel Counts…