But you know what? It’s a good feature and I’m happy if this means more people get access to it.
Less than six months after it debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple’s Dynamic Island has made it to an Android phone as a native feature. The Realme C55, which just launched in Indonesia (via GSMArena), includes a feature the company is calling the “Mini Capsule,” a pill-shaped black bar that expands out of the phone’s selfie camera.
An animation on Realme’s website shows the Mini Capsule extending out of the left and right of the phone’s selfie camera hole-punch notch. Its capabilities include displaying the phone’s charges status, data usage, and your step count.
In spite of how shameless this all is, I’m broadly in favor of good new phone features being as widely adopted as possible. I love the Dynamic Island on my iPhone 14 Pro, whether it’s keeping my cooking timer visible while I check back on an online recipe, or giving me a simpler way to control music without leaving whatever app I’m browsing. And if the user interface is (eventually) available across both iPhones and more Android devices, I’m cautiously hopeful that more app developers will make an effort to support it.
And if rumors about Huawei’s upcoming Nova 11 are accurate, the Realme C55 might not be the last Android phone to adopt Apple’s pioneering feature.
Apart from the Mini Capsule, the Realme C55 is a typical Android phone that’s also affordable. It’s powered by a Helio G88 processor, comes with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a 6.72-inch 1080p 90Hz display. It has a 5,000mAh battery, and can be fast charged at up to 33W. It uses the SuperVOOC charging standard, which you might be familiar with as an Oppo technology (Realme is under the same BBK Electronics umbrella).
The Realme C55 is on sale in Indonesia now starting at Rp2,999,000 (around $195). Although an official launch date hasn’t yet been confirmed in the West, Realme Europe’s CEO Francis Wong says it’ll be launching in Europe “soon.” In the meantime, if you’d like to try out a Dynamic Island style interface on your current Android phone, check out the DynamicSpot app.
Meanwhile, Apple could be preparing to bring the Dynamic Island to more iPhone models with this year’s iPhone 15 lineup. which is rumored to be including the feature on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus in addition to the Pro models.