If you want to enjoy the benefits of the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island but don’t want to pay for Apple’s pricey 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 that 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 concise yet informative and engaging way, while also hiding the phone’s notches.
When you receive a notification, the island comes alive to warn you about your upcoming flight, a text message, or an alarm you’ve set, among other things. 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 include it.
The Realme C55 has just made its debut in Indonesia with its 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, it looks like the Mini Capsule will be a bit more limited than the Dynamic Island. While it doesn’t seem able to show you such a wide range of alerts, the Mini Capsule will tell you when the Realme C55 is running low, what your data usage is, and your step count for the day.
In addition, the Realme C55 is only available in Indonesia for now. But Francis Wong – the CEO of the company’s European arm – has one tweet (opens in new tab) say it will launch in Europe “soon”.
There’s no word yet on a wider global launch – as a rough indication, the price of the phone in Indonesia comes in at around $160 / £140 / AU$245, although we doubt it would have been priced that cheaply in Western markets – but we hope so, and other phones playing on Dynamic Island will 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 your Android phone, which offers many of the features as Dynamic Island, albeit with some limitations.