does not have a physical keyboard and supports multi-touch. The first generation iPhone released in 2007 was really rare in the smartphone market at that time. Steve Ballmer, who was the CEO of Microsoft at that time, even ruthlessly mocked the product, which was priced at as high as $500 in public interviews, believing that the iPhone would not eventually gain much market share. Naturally, history has not developed as Steve Ballmer expected. Today's iPhone not only firmly occupies a large part of the global smartphone market share, but is also constantly launching new functions to explore new ways and dimensions of human-computer interaction: such as the Siri smart voice assistant launched in iPhone 4s, full-screen interactive gestures on iPhone X, and of course, the latest "Lingdong Island" released on the iPhone 14 Pro series.
Like other Apple products, most of these new features and interaction methods are not first-of-its, but they have led a wave of "trends" in the smartphone market. No matter how you evaluate "Lingdong Island", no matter whether the iPhone 14 Pro series can become a milestone generation iPhone, this new interactive design that Apple calls blurring the boundaries of software and hardware will leave a strong mark in the history of iPhone.
After two weeks with iPhone 14 Pro, I also had some feelings about the experience of "Lingdong Island". The brand new iPhone 14 Pro also left me surprises and regrets in terms of functions and experience. I will discuss it with you through this article.
A "long-lost" black iPhone
glass back plate, stainless steel right-angle frame, classic black... iPhone 4 has achieved no doubt in the history of industrial design, and is often talked about today. After the iPhone 4 era, Apple replaced the original black with space gray on the iPhone 5s. We haven't seen a flagship black iPhone in a true sense for a long time.
And on iPhone 14 Pro, the addition of deep space black undoubtedly gave black iPhone enthusiasts like me a little surprise. Compared with the previous space gray, the dark space black glass back panel and stainless steel frame are more thoroughly black and closer to the real black. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the matte textured glass process, the deep space black still gives me a slightly grayish feeling in most light environments. It should be noted that some news says that on the newly added dark space black and dark purple iPhone this year, the glass back panel is prone to scratches or other usage marks; in my daily use for nearly two weeks, I have not found this situation, so I should not worry too much about this problem.
In addition to the color, the "Lingdong Island" is temporarily aside, the biggest change in the appearance of the iPhone 14 Pro is the cliché rear camera module; it also unexpectedly means that since the iPhone 11 Pro was equipped with a rear triple camera module for the first time, this camera system can still be bigger and thicker every year.
Yes, the camera of the iPhone 14 Pro is larger and thicker; if you update it from iPhone 13 Pro, you don’t even need to compare it, just touch it with your hands to feel this obvious change. Of course, this change this year is also the most worthwhile "swap" in the past few years, because not only can you get larger and new sensors on the iPhone 14 Pro, the 48-megapixel main camera is really a big step forward for the iPhone's imaging system. However, if you want to get a more veritable Pro-grade imaging system and mind the outstanding problems of the camera module, you can only use the protective case as a compromise solution.
changed from iPhone 13 Pro Max to iPhone 14 Pro. It is difficult for me to objectively tell you whether this iPhone is heavy or not. I can only say that the latter has indeed reduced the burden on my daily use, whether it is the easier body size to master or the more refined feeling brought by the smaller size for me.However, after using it for a long time, the iPhone 14 Pro still puts a lot of pressure on my palms, especially for the little finger. I have to seek accessories like PopSockets to help me relieve stress during use. By the way, the magnetic strength of the MagSafe of the iPhone 14 Pro is much stronger than before. Whether it is using third-party accessories like PopSockets or first-party accessories from Apple, you can feel the "click" of magnetism being attached to it more clearly.
It can be seen that the iPhone 14 Pro is still not a lightweight phone, and even the iPhone 14 Plus, which is larger than it, is lighter. Therefore, based on daily usage needs, I still recommend that users of the Pro series choose the smaller one, unless you have a strong enough demand for large-sized screens; of course, the screen advantages of the iPhone 14 Pro Max are also very obvious. When I first started using the iPhone 14 Pro, the smaller input keyboard and the screen presentation of less content made me feel the feeling of "experience downgrade", and it took some time to adapt to this change.
Lingdong Island: Before the troops move, food and grass will go first
The first iPhone ten years ago, subverting the appearance of mobile phones in people's hearts with the innovative Multi-Touch technology. Today's iPhone X marks a new era for iPhone. The equipment and experience are integrated, allowing you to completely immerse yourself in it, feel only what you are paying attention to, as if you have forgotten the existence of the equipment.
As Jony Ive, then chief design officer of Apple in 2017, said at the release of iPhone X, the launch of the full-screen iPhone is an important milestone. The full-screen interactive gesture that integrates "device and experience" is of course also an attempt to combine software and hardware: the screen is the Home key, and the iOS system is under the screen. "Lingdong Island", which has similarities in
, is therefore called "Another new major change since the iPhone has achieved full-screen
." So, is "Lingdong Island" really an innovation that belongs to the next era after full screen as Apple introduced? I think this answer is only the huge application ecosystem of App Store that can give us an answer in the future. Before that, let’s take a look at what “Lingdong Island” has done and how it has done.
According to Apple, "Lingdong Island" integrates notifications, reminders, and real-time activities in one place, which means that these three types of information will be presented around "Lingdong Island".
First talk about "real-time activities". Perhaps Apple has done a very good job of confidentiality. Just when many people are ready to accept that the iPhone 14 Pro will appear with the rumored "exclamation mark screen", almost no one expected that with the "real-time activities" function released with iOS 16, paving the way for the emergence of "Lingdong Island". "Real-time activities" are not only the soul of Lingdong Island, but also the only way for developers to interact with "Lingdong Island".
Check Apple's development documents about "Lingdong Island" and you can see that the third-party app launches the "Real-time Activity" function through the ActivityKit framework to realize the ability to present application real-time updates on "Lingdong Island" and lock screens. According to Apple's introduction to "real-time activities" in the "Human-Computer Interface Interaction Guide", "real-time activities" should have the following characteristics:
- only presents the most important content.
- only displays when there is an update.
- avoid displaying information types: sensitive information, advertising or promotions, etc.
- behavior: After clicking, the correct position of the corresponding function in the application should be opened.
- has a start and end state, and the user supports the start and end states to control the start and end states themselves.
To summarize, I think "real-time activity" should meet the following characteristics:
- persistence
- timeliness
- public
- interactive
That is to say, although "real-time activity" has the same characteristics as traditional push notifications, such as opening the correct position of the application after clicking, it is completely different from the latter. The former will not be on the screen and will only be executed under more stringent conditions. The same goes for the other way around. iOS notifications and reminders will not appear in "Lingdong Island". They will still push notifications through banners below in a familiar way, using "Lingdong Island" as the boundary.
In a sense, "real-time activity" is more like a higher-level widget because it also uses SwiftUI and WidgetKit to create user interfaces, but the former is different in terms of update mechanisms.
However, it is precisely the different ways of handling notifications, reminders and real-time activities in presentation forms that many people have complaints about "Lingdong Island". Because the "Lingdong Island" not only moved slightly from the position of "bangs", a small part of the blank area was left above, but also caused the overall position of the banner of reminders and notifications to be moved down a lot.
The adjustment of this hardware and software design has been explained relatively reasonably and clearly in this article @口用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线用线真. On the one hand, it is necessary to consider the styles of "Lingdong Island" in three different forms: Compact, Minimal, and Expand
Judging from the results, the interactive design of "Lingdong Island" can definitely be regarded as eye-catching. Whether it is the rounded corner design that maintains consistent angles in the border, screen, and the smart island, or various detailed and interesting animation effects.
However, like the important features of iOS systems in previous years, the news that "real-time activities" will be postponed to the launch of iOS 16.1 is not surprising. At present, the "Lingdong Island" on the iPhone 14 Pro is more like a semi-finished product. Only some system applications and functions such as timers and Face ID have been adapted first with the advantages of "native". Some voice and audio apps have also been the first to "land" due to type reasons. The more abilities of "Lingdong Island" can only be truly utilized by relying on more and more adaptations from third-party apps.
I don’t want to repeat to you what the current "Lingdong Island" can do. You probably have tried it in many other contents or yourself. However, after a period of use, I did find some current problems. For example, according to the introduction of the "Best Practices" section of the following Apple's "Human-Computer Interaction Guide":
Make sure tapping your Live Activity opens your app at the right location. When people tap a Live Activity to open your app, take them directly to details and actions related to it — don’t require them to navigate to the relevant screen.
, Apple The suggestion for developers is that when the user clicks on a real-time activity, the application should directly open the details page of the corresponding function, rather than just opening the app. In the few apps that are currently adapted to "Lingdong Island", the commonly used music apps and timer functions cannot be perfectly implemented. For example, clicking on the music that is being played in "Lingdong Island" will only jump to the page that was previously stuck in the music app, and will not open the playback page of the corresponding song; and when clicking on the timer, if the clock app is not awakened for the first time, it will not be possible to directly reach the timer page.
Click timer real-time activity cannot be directly redirected to the timer interface.
In addition, perhaps because Apple's current positioning of "Lingdong Island" is "light interaction, heavy display", or in order to maintain the same interaction logic as the three-dimensional touch shortcut menu, clicking "Lingdong Island" will directly open the corresponding app, and long press to expand the Expanded view shortcut operation. Considering that even the smaller iPhone 14 Pro is difficult to easily complete various operations with one hand alone, if you want to use the "Lingdong Island" quick operation application at the top of the screen (rather than opening the app), you will inevitably feel difficult. Fortunately, iOS 16.1, which is in the beta stage, has already given a solution to this. At that time, we will be able to pull "Lingdong Island" to the middle of the screen through the "Convenient Access" function to complete the operation.
Many people believe that "Lingdong Island" is Apple's "concealer" treatment method for iPhone's new screen form - dual-hole screen -. Judging from the results, it is naturally difficult for us to deny this view. However, I also think that Apple has not just designed such a software and hardware interaction form based on the idea of blocking the "exclamation mark screen". Under such a brand that has extremely high requirements for details, "Lingdong Island" must be the product of continuous trade-offs and mutual achievements between hardware design and software experience, and there must be an extremely complex decision-making process behind it; of course, there will be a lot of compromises. No matter how you view "Lingdong Island" now, no matter how this design will develop in the future, it will surely accompany the iPhone through a long journey.
"Lingdong Island" is well deserved to be regarded as a wonderful innovation. Whether it is the ultimate pursuit of details or the clever combination of software and hardware experience, iOS human-computer interaction design will surely leave a strong mark belonging to "Lingdong Island".
is just at present. Rather than saying that "Lingdong Island" is a solution to an objective problem, it is better to say that it can only be regarded as a means of realizing some less powerful demand. From a personal perspective, I really don’t need to see how long the time has passed in real time during the countdown, nor do I need to see which song is currently playing anytime and anywhere... Just like Apple’s many functions, “Lingdong Island” has left a great space for developers and users to imagine; will this design be an epoch-making creation in the history of iPhone software and hardware, or may it become a flash in the pan like the Touch Bar? Only time can tell us the answer. Now let's wait and see what kind of fantastic ideas a creative developer will have on this island.
display all the time: Another attempt to combine software and hardware
There have been rumors that Apple Watch is the "test field" of iPhone. Although we may never get answers from Apple, we can also know a little about it with a glimpse of the former's product history. It all starts with the first generation of Apple Watch.
In 2015, Apple launched the first generation of Apple Watch. This product is equipped with a stainless steel shell, equipped with an OLED screen, Taptic Engine, and supports Force Touch, IPX7 waterproof level . Let’s take a look at the iPhone. The iPhone 6s released in 2016 was equipped with Taptic Engine for the first time and supports 3D Touch function. The iPhone 7 released in 2017 supported the splash, water and dust resistance levels of IP67 for the first time; and on the iPhone X launched in 2017, we saw the return of stainless steel borders and the long-awaited OLED screen, which is still a comprehensive screen similar to the Apple Watch.
is right. Apple supported the eSIM function for the first time on the Apple Watch Series 3 released in 2017, and eSIM support was also provided on the iPhone XS a year later, although we are not able to use this function on iPhone yet. On the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple even canceled the SIM physical card slot directly in models released in the United States.
The eyes returned to iPhone 14 Pro again.On the Apple Watch Series 5 released in 2019, Apple launched an all-weather display for the first time. The Apple Watch can display content on the screen without raising your hand or lighting it up. And on the iPhone 14 Pro, the long-rumored all-weather display has finally arrived.
iPhone 14 Pro in the screen-off state. The all-weather display on the
The implementation is also very similar to the Apple Watch: through LTPO screen technology, the iPhone will always light up when locking the screen at a new 1Hz refresh rate, such as weather, astronomical information on the background of the screen, widgets, and various contents for real-time activities, etc.; and when the iPhone is put into the bag (the sensor is blocked), the screen will be completely turned off to save power.
screen will be completely turned off after the sensor is blocked.
You can see that the all-weather display of iPhone is different from the mainstream solutions on the market. It is not a component that displays a time or date separately after the screen is turned off, but a real "always on display": reduce the brightness of screen , and keep the content of the locked screen unchanged. Of course, when displayed at a lower refresh rate, most of the content on the iPhone 14 Pro will not be updated in real time, only the number of seconds, time minutes and new notifications in the timer will continue to be updated in real time.
changed to iPhone 14 Pro. What I didn't get used to most is this all-weather display screen, because even in an indoor environment, its brightness is relatively dark, which often makes me think that the iPhone has no lock screen, and then I suddenly realize it after lighting up the screen. If you upgrade from an old device, you might also need to take some time to get used to this change like me. Of course, this also shows that the visibility of this all-weather display is indeed very good. You can see time, weather or other information by just a glance at the screen, which is relatively more convenient than raising your hand to look at the watch. After
has an all-weather display, it is satisfying that the battery life of the iPhone 14 Pro does not seem to be greatly affected. Whether it is the continuous use of the iPhone indoors for a long time (all-weather display is turned on), or the continuous navigation through iPhone outdoors, browsing social networks, etc. (the all-weather display is turned off after the device is put into the bag), the battery life of the iPhone 14 Pro does not appear to be significantly different, which is also close to the relevant test conclusions of FView.
Judging from my use, it is basically no problem to use the iPhone 14 Pro for a day of mild and moderate use. For example, I mainly use social media reading, listening to music, and light video consumption on daily basis. From early to almost the evening, I will basically use the battery below 20%. However, compared with the iPhone 13 Pro Max I am using, the battery life of the iPhone 14 Pro is still far lower than the former. The Pro Max model can provide a more reliable user experience during long trips or in different rates, depending on how you choose between screen size, battery life and portability.
belongs to iPhone image and photography a small step
The last time the iPhone upgraded its main camera pixels back to 7 years ago, when the main camera pixels of the iPhone 6s series were upgraded from 8 million to 12 million from the previous generation of iPhone 6 series. It can be said that many iPhone users have been waiting for a 48-megapixel main camera for too long.
Of course, just like Apple's previous conservative style, the new 48 million main camera capability is currently only open to professional users, or only provided support in professional mode. If you want to switch to 48 megapixel mode to shoot, we need to turn on the Apple ProRAW format in the Camera Options in the iOS System Settings, and manually adjust to the 48 megapixel option. Of course, there is actually another important reason for such logical design, which is the newly launched four-in-one pixel processor in the iPhone 14 Pro.
In iPhone 14 Pro, the sensor size is 65% larger than the previous generation products. The four-in-one pixel sensor will merge four pixels by default to become a larger pixel, increasing the amount of light input.According to the information given by Apple, the four-in-one pixel sensor can improve photosensitive capacity by 4 times. Even if it is still in the 12-megapixel shooting mode, the iPhone 14 Pro can still take pictures more clearly and brilliantly.
shot with iPhone 14 Pro (12 megapixel wide angle 1x lens HEIF), the image is compressed.
As expected, the iPhone 14 Pro also continued to maintain the usual advantages of iPhone photography: high shutter speed, accurate color restoration, stable white balance, and excellent control of highlights and shadows. Thanks to the 4-in-1 pixel and light image engine, the iPhone 14 Pro also performs better in color performance and light capture, even if its main camera aperture is slightly reduced.
was shot using iPhone 14 Pro (12 megapixel telephoto lens HEIF), and the image was compressed.
Even though it still uses a triple-photo imaging system with 13mm, 24mm (the previous generation was 26mm), and 77mm equivalent focal length , with the help of high pixel cropping, the 2x lens with 48mm equivalent focal length has finally returned to the iPhone 14 Pro due to the popularity of many people.
shot with iPhone 14 Pro (12 megapixel wide angle 2x lens Apple ProRAW), the image is compressed.
Unfortunately, the "ghosts" that have plagued iPhone users for many years have also had the problem of oversharpening, and they can still be seen on iPhone 14 Pro.
shot with iPhone 14 Pro (48 megapixel wide angle 1x lens Apple ProRAW), the image is compressed.
shot using iPhone 14 Pro (12 megapixel wide angle 1x lens HEIF), the image is compressed.
And when the 48-megapixel Apple ProRAW option is turned on, the strongest imaging capabilities of the iPhone 14 Pro are finally fully released: the picture details are unprecedentedly rich, and the later space is further free.
uses iPhone 14 Pro (48 megapixel wide-angle Apple ProRAW), and the image is compressed.
is cropped from the source file above, and the image is compressed.
But it is also necessary to realize that such an upgrade does not come at no cost. Due to the influence of chip computing power, when shooting 48 million Apple ProRAW images, each time you press the shutter, it will take 2-3 seconds to wait, because we are about to face an Apple ProRAW file of 50MB or even much larger. This may make you miss the best time to record in many scenes suitable for mobile photography.
Therefore, I would recommend that you give priority to shooting in 12 megapixel mode more often, with excellent shutter speed, accurate color performance, and reasonable file sizes. These iPhone image advantages that you are already familiar with can be fully preserved. This will not waste the new hardware capabilities of the iPhone 14 Pro, because the new four-in-one pixel sensor, light image engine, and the "long-lost" 2x focal length can help you take photos quickly and well enough. When facing scenes with more complex environments and richer details, iPhone images below 48 million pixels will marvel at a completely different vision at such a high resolution.
captures the kitten sticking out his tongue, shoots with iPhone 14 Pro (12 megapixel wide-angle 1x lens HEIF), and the image is compressed.
Fortunately, iOS also provides us with the ability to switch quickly. When we don’t need to use 48 megapixel mode to shoot, we can directly turn it off through the "RAW" button in the upper right corner of the camera interface, without frequent switching in the system settings. Unfortunately, quick switching means giving up the advantages of Apple ProRAW in image information retention and post-adjustment space, because we can only choose between 48 megapixel Apple ProRAW and turn off Apple ProRAW. If you still want to be able to shoot a 12-megapixel Apple ProRAW image file while enjoying the high-speed shutter, you can only switch between different pixel modes through the system settings, or completely turn off the 48-megapixel option, and hope that Apple can continue to optimize the software experience of switching different photography modes in subsequent software iterations.
Conclusion
Screen, images, and Lingdong Island are the main answers submitted by Apple in iPhone 14 Pro. The changes in this generation of iPhone can be said to be very big or small. The biggest change is that the newly added "Lingdong Island" will undoubtedly become a must-fight place for Apple developers. It will also become one of the most important weather vanes for the development of the App Store application ecosystem before Apple's AR/VR products arrive, and the latter is also the most important factor that promotes the success of iPhones; the small change is that when the new generation of iPhones almost only "Lingdong Island" is the main selling point, it will indeed not necessarily make everyone buy it. As for whether this generation of iPhones can become a milestone product in the next era after iPhone X, it is indeed too early to draw conclusions now.
It is undeniable that the emergence of "Lingdong Island" can definitely become a wonderful creation in the history of human-computer interaction design, and may also lead the smartphone industry into the next "trend" . Whether you like "Lingdong Island" or not, it will accompany the iPhone through many years like the screen "bangs" of MacBook Pro.
