Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work.
Yes, I know what it does, yes I’ve reviewed a couple of iPhone models since then. But nothing like taking it on as my only carry and using it as my main phone., tempted by that Liquit Glass software and that last-of-a-kind titanium body.
And I’ve discovered that… I kind of hate the Dynamic Island.Tap and hold to get 'quick access' controls OK, on the surface, the Dynamic Island is a pretty nice idea. It adds some form of multitasking to the iPhone, which has none. You can have various “active” widgets up there, appearing as tiny icons next to the selfie camera and Face ID sensors. So, when you have music playing, the Dynamic Island shows a little audio wave, and you can tap and hold on it to get a bigger widget for multimedia controls. If you tap it once, the iPhone immediately drops what you are doing and swaps to the fullscreen music app that is active.The entire point of the Dynamic Island is to make things quick and easy, I thought. In my mind, the floating widget should appear with just a single tap. A tap and hold — the slower gesture — should be the action that takes you to the big app. Not the other way around. Why am I given quick access to controls, but only if I hold my finger on the screen?iOS has a lovely feature — whenever viewing a long website or document, you can tap at the very top of the screen for an instant “return to top” function. I’ve used this for years and it’s pretty convenient, to the point it’s second nature. Well, not so much now. If I have an active widget going on on the Dynamic island, I do have to take care to not tap it. Because not only will I not return to top, I will swap to a whole different app, due to the functionality described above.I think we can all agree that it’s pretty silly to have an interface element on the one place of the screen you don’t want to be touching. Yes, you can wipe it away easily, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy constantly having fingerprints on my selfie camera lens.Technically, the Dynamic Island is a bit wider than the whole Face ID cutout, so you can tap at its corners. Or go super-precise and tap between the selfie camera and the IR blaster. But let’s be real, sometimes — or often enough — that finger will land exactly on the selfie camera lens. Awesome…this year, and it is a pretty obvious riff on the Dynamic Island. But here’s how it’s better: On the lock screen or always-on-display, the Now Bar actually moves to the bottom of the display. This makes it easier to thumb-tap or swipe it when you are just taking your phone out of your pocket and just holing it with one hand for at-a-glance information. When the screen is unlocked, the Now Bar sits in the top left corner of the screen, not over the actual selfie camera. Simply tapping the Now Bar once expands the active widget behind it, so you can get to it faster and easier. Then, tapping on that widget again will actually open the entire app — it’s much more deliberate and logical.Apple does hate changing around user experience elements. It doesn’t want to create any friction when it comes to new OS experience, which is why we still have old and silly features like “shake the phone for Undo”, even though you can now do it by triple-finger tapping on the screen instead. So, my hopes for the way the Dynamic Island operates to be shuffled around… are very, very low. It is what it is, and definitely not an experience-breaking thing. It just baffles me that it was designed this way in the first place. Otherwise, the idea behind it — to add some quick-tap multitasking to the iPhone — was sorely needed and is much appreciated. Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.Multiple accounts - one person can have only one accountTo help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can post or comment.Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a post should be moderated - please, report it.Leak showcasing finalized Galaxy S26 series indicates base model will steal the show
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