If you want to enjoy the benefits of the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island, but don’t want to shell out for Apple’s expensive handsets, Realme’s new smartphone might be the option you’re looking for.
The Dynamic Island is a new notification system used by the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, and which replaces the smartphone’s notch. It combines hardware like the iPhone’s camera and depth sensor with software upgrades to create a smart notification bar that relays important information in a succinct but informative and engaging way, while also disguising the phone’s cut-outs.
When you get a notification, the Island will come to life to alert you to your upcoming flight, a text message, or an alarm you’ve set, among other uses. The Dynamic Island was one of the standout features of the phone that we highlighted in our iPhone 14 Pro review, so it’s no wonder other device makers would want to incorporate it.
The Realme C55 has just made its debut in Indonesia with its very own version of the Dynamic island – or Mini Capsule to use Realme’s name, but there’s no hiding the inspiration for this pill-shaped bar (via GSMArena (opens in new tab)).
However, the Mini Capsule looks like it will be a little more limited than the Dynamic Island. While it doesn’t seem capable of showing you as wide an array of alerts, the Mini Capsule will tell you when the Realme C55 is running low on charge, what your data consumption is and your step count for the day.
What’s more, for now, the Realme C55 is only available in Indonesia. But Francis Wong – the CEO of the company’s European arm – has put out a tweet (opens in new tab) saying it’ll launch in Europe “soon.”
There’s no word on a wider worldwide launch yet – as a rough guide the phone’s Indonesia price works out to around $160 / £140 / AU$245, although we doubt it would be priced that cheaply in Western markets – but we hope it, and other phones that riff on the Dynamic Island launch soon. It’s one of Apple’s most innovative smartphone features in years and we won’t be disappointed to see it appear on as many rivals as possible.
If you don’t want to wait to get your hands on the Realme C55, you might want to try an app like DynamicSpot on uour Android phone which offers many of the features as the Dynamic Island, albeit with some restrictions.
