Listening to a baseball game on the radio and following the scores on your phone can feel a little psychic. Dave Sims watches the score go to his 10-8 on the iPhone 14 Pro display for a few pitches before Dave Sims rampages on broadcast where he calls Cal Raleigh’s home run.Seeing the score go in the opposite direction makes this a lot less interesting, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday Mariners finally defeated Blue Jays in extra inningsIt’s a classic, it’s a grand slam, Tablet shattered in rage, everything you want to see. To keep you immersed in victory after the game is over, we left the final scorecard on your lock screen.
After testing a series of powerful Android phones, we’re back with the 14 Pro. I used the iPhone quite a bit last fall, and since then there have been some changes regarding the phone’s marquee feature. Dynamic Islands — that’s the free-floating notch at the top of the screen that hosts at-a-glance information — and the always-on display are a bit more common these days since Apple opened up Live Activities to third-party developers. You can do that. Oh, it’s baseball season again. This is an important use case for me.
Live Activities is an iOS 16 feature. Not exclusive to 14 Pro. This is how the app provides live updates of time-sensitive events. They appear on the lock screen on most iPhones, but on the 14 Pro and Pro Max, some of that information also appears in Dynamic Island, so you can see it while doing other things on your phone. . On the 14 Pro model, unlike the traditional AOD, it also remains visible on the always-on display, a dimmed version of the lock screen, allowing you to see the game score or his Uber without leaving your phone and moving a finger. You can check the boarding location.
With more apps supporting live activities, dynamic islands, and an always-on display, the overall feel of the 14 Pro is clearer than it was six months ago. And I like it I love being able to monitor Mariners games without opting in to notifications or picking up my phone and opening the app. I like knowing if the Uber pick-up is five minutes away for him or around the corner without having to constantly check the app.
Ultimately these functions help me address what I want the following from my phone. I want to spend less time fiddling with apps — “What am I doing here?” scrolling when all I wanted to do was check the weather. We want to reduce a little bit of friction when doing daily phone chores.
i know i am not alone.In fact, these days, the phones that currently exist are categorically bad, And they should be replaced with non-destructive ones. terrible for our mental healthThat’s the idea behind something like the gadget that Humane “demonstrated” in a recent TED Talk. Based on the leaked video, it’s supposed to be a kind of mobile phone replacement technology where you can put a small projector in your shirt pocket and use your hand as a kind of quick information display. The premise is shaky, and the company keeps what it’s actually making secret, but it’s not the first ill-advised attempt to put something in front of you that isn’t a phone.
What the “phones are bad” people forget is that phones are still absolutely essential to modern life. How can we get our kids out of nursery school with a little projector that we clip into our pockets? There are many things. I love having my phone with me because it allows me to confidently navigate unfamiliar public transport. I love having the device in my pocket so I can instantly video call my parents and see my grandchildren all over the country. I love being able to finish a book in the Libby app, browse available books from my library, and check out other books while sitting on the bus.
I feel the app is to blame here, not the phone. App developers have a lot of incentives to keep us scrolling or buying something, but they have very few incentives to maintain a healthy relationship with our phones. This is how we got into our current notification hell, and phone makers are giving us some life-saving measures in the form of focus modes, weekly total screen time, and scheduled notification summaries. I threw in. Thanks everyone.
Apple also offers another tiny life raft with new hardware capabilities in the 14 Pro, but my impression after returning to Dynamic Island is that it can do a lot more. There are some that are not currently supported, but are considered to be within the scope of current functionality. The Uber app supports live activities, but Uber Eats does not (yet?) support real-time updates on dinner locations. There’s also no way to opt-in to all real-time updates for all games your team plays. Instead, you’ll get a notification that the game is about to start, and tapping it will take you to the Apple TV app where you can enable Live Updates.
Live activities are designed for events with defined start and end times. (Don’t kid me about baseball games going on forever. We have a pitch clock now. Are you happy, are you a monster?) They are events that are clearly interesting to follow in real-time, such as games, timers, rideshares, etc., and the information disappears when finished. What I really want more is the ability to display information related to my habits and daily activities, but this is a bit tricky.
Sure, there are other useful things my phone does for me that don’t involve selling anything.
Why can’t I see the bus arrival time on my lock screen widget when I’m rushing to a stop near my house? What would happen if you opened it to Again, don’t let me. No automation can be set for this. I checked. Anyway, have you tried setting up an iOS shortcut more complicated than “Open X App”? It takes an advanced engineering degree to figure it out. I bet most iOS users don’t know what automation is.
An app on my phone can tell me who I’ve been dating lately and what brand of handmade candle they just bought, so I can show them appropriate ads. There are other useful things my phone does for me that don’t involve selling anything.
That’s why the new features in 14 Pro feel fresh. It puts useful information where you need it, when you need it. In most cases, no additional information is required from me. More third-party app makers will need to get on board to reach its full potential, but given that Dynamic Island appears to be coming to all iPhone 15 models, it seems likely. If so, you’ll be just in time to watch the Mariners’ postseason games.
