Mobile phones 移动电话

The new old thing 新旧之物

Mar 2nd 2017 | BARCELONA

@(TheEconomist)[英语, 翻译, 经济学人]

“A SEA of sameness.” A veteran of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a consultancy, was not expecting much from the mobile industry’s main trade show this week in Barcelona. As one product launch followed another, it was easy to lose track. Whether it was LG, Huawei or Wiko, they all showed off yet more black rectangles with slightly varying specifications.

“ 千篇一律的机器海洋”，来自移动行业咨询公司CCS Insight的资深从业者Ben Wood对这周在巴萨罗那开幕的世界移动通信大会所呈现出的行业风向无所期待。随着一款又一款新品的发布，人们很容易迷失在机器海洋里。无论是LG、华为或者Wiko，都无一例外看起来像一个个差异甚微的黑色长方体。

Another reminder of the smartphone business’s maturity was that the most talked-about new device was the Nokia 3310 feature phone (pictured), an updated version of a phone first made 17 years ago. With limited internet connectivity, it appeals partly as a “digital detox”, said Arto Nummela, chief executive of HMD Global, a Finnish startup with ex-Nokia executives which licenses the brand.

另一个被人广为谈论的新机-Nokia 3310功能手机则让人回想起智能手机行业的青壮年时期。这款手机是17年前机型的升级款，由于机器网络能力受限，这款手机更多像是“数码解毒剂”，继承了Nokia衣钵的芬兰HMD Global公司首席执行Arto Nummela如是说。

The mobile industry is far from done in terms of genuinely new products. But the action has moved to parts of the business that do not lend themselves to splashy events and massive crowds (the tent erected by Huawei, a Chinese maker of all sorts of telecoms gear, to launch its new P10 smartphone was huge, but hundreds were still left waiting outside). Most innovation in the next ten years will happen in the telecoms network rather than in devices, predicts John Delaney of IDC, a market-research firm.

虽然移动通信产业在生产高品质新产品上任重道远，但是厂商们正在把精力花费在不那么吸引眼球、聚集观众的部分。（来自中国的全系列通讯器材制造商华为，为了发布旗下新型P10智能手机，支起了足够大的帐篷，但是仍然有数百人在外等候）。市场调研公司IDC的John Delaney预测：未来十年移动通讯行业的创新，更多会出现在移动网络建设而非通讯终端本身。

For now the industry is gearing up for the next generation of wireless technology, “5G”. In time for MWC the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, agreed on the specifications for 5G: speeds must be up to 20 gigabits per second, enough to download a movie in a few blinks of an eye. At the show, makers of networking gear, such as Samsung, announced products for the first 5G networks. These are expected to launch in 2018, mostly in South Korea and in Japan, where the new wireless technology is expected to be shown off during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

时至今日，整个移动通讯行业正在为下一代无线通讯技术“5G”整装待发。国际通讯联盟对5G参数作如下定义：传输速度必须高于20GB/s，足以在眨眼之间下载完成一步电影。展会期间，三星等网络建设商发布了第一代5G网络架设产品，预期2018起会在韩国和日本开始建设，并在2020年东京奥林匹克运动会时投入使用。

Much still needs to be invented to make 5G a reality. Mobile carriers will, for instance, have to rejig their networks to make them more like a “computing cloud”. The idea is that network operators, just like providers of computing power, should be able to cook up new telecoms services within seconds. One technique is called “slicing”, meaning phone networks can be divided up to serve different purposes, such as providing superfast connectivity for self-driving cars or reliably hooking up connected devices as part of the Internet of Things.

为了实现5G还有很多要做：比如，移动运营商需要重新规划他们的通信网络使之更像是“计算云”。其愿景是网络服务商能够像计算服务提供商一样，能够在几秒内提供移动通讯服务。一种技术称为“网络切片”，这种技术能将移动网络按不同用途划分切块，比如提供自动驾驶汽车所需的超快链接或者是物联网设备所需的稳定互联。

Mobile innovation is not doomed to be hidden in the network. But you will have to look more closely to spot it. In Barcelona fingerprint readers appeared in smartphones costing less than $$100. If these move to even cheaper devices, it would be a boon to people in developing countries who could easily authenticate themselves online. Another development was that 360-degree cameras are becoming smaller and cheaper. The matchbox-sized Giroptic iO, which attaches to a smartphone, costs $260. Expect another dimension of selfies, which some already call “surroundies”, and, inevitably, new sorts of selfie sticks.

移动通讯革新并没有注定隐藏在通讯网络之下，但是你需要凑近去观察和发现。在巴塞罗那的展会上，带有指纹识别的智能手机手机不超过100美元。如果这些功能被移植到更廉价的设备上，将会使发展中国家的人们更好的在网上验证自己的身份。另一项发展是360度相机的小型化和廉价化。只有火柴盒大小、可连接到智能手机上的360度摄像头Giroptic iO只需要260美元。这使得一种新的自拍方式“全景自拍”成为可能。而且，不可回避的，人们需要一种新型的自拍杆。