iPhone 6：实实在在的“升级”

    苹果为最新推出的iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus打出了“岂止于大”的标语。的确,这两款手机要比4寸屏幕的iPhone 5S和5C都要大，分别搭载了一块4.7寸和5.5寸的显示屏，但除了屏幕尺寸之外，这两款手机的升级之处还有不少。

    首先不得不提的是最新的A8处理器，据说它的运行速度更快，而且耗电量更低。另外还有最新植入的M8协同处理器，它可以通过iPhone内部的多个传感器（甚至还包括一个可测量海拔高度变化的气压计）监测你的行动。iPhone 6还使用了最新的显示技术，可以提供更锐利的对比度和更广的显示角度，甚至戴着偏光镜看都不会发生偏色。另外，苹果对800万像素摄像头的驱动软件也做了优化，可以提供更优秀的面部识别、自动对焦、视频防抖和慢动作捕捉功能。

    iPhone的功能升级可以排出一列长长的清单。基本可以确凿无疑地说，iPhone 6和6 Plus堪称苹果有史以来最好的智能手机产品。

    但这些都不是iPhone 6和6 Plus的终极目标。事实上，这两款手机可以说是苹果首次为了讨好那些因为嫌弃iOS设备创新僵化，而转投安卓阵营的用户而推出的诚意之作。

    韩国三星集团（Samsung）近年来已经给苹果造成了不小的麻烦。三星于2011年首次推出了一款巨屏手机。一开始人们都在嘲笑这款5.3寸巨屏的Galaxy Note，因为它看上去与当时的主流机型迥然不同。它到底是一台手机还是一台平板电脑呢？答案是“平板手机”。这个名字在当时看来就和这台手机本身一样别扭。

    不过事实证明，很多人喜欢更大屏的手机。在过去三年间，每一款Note的销量都超过了1000万台。Galaxy Note系列的总销量已经超过了5000万台。Note 4预计将在本月17日上架发售，它的销量将进一步预示着大屏手机——也就是所谓的“平板手机”将进一步蚕食平板电脑市场的销量。

    现在请猜猜，平板电脑到底哪家强？

    iPhone 6和6 Plus的销量可以说是势如破竹，但大屏也给苹果带来了新的问题。前一代iPhone对于单手操作来说堪称完美，但现在却必须依赖软件来弥补屏幕更大造成的操作困难。

    “Bigger than Bigger” is the tagline Apple adopted to describe its latest iPhone lineup. Indeed, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are bigger than last year’s models, the 5C and 5S, which have 4-inch displays. The new models have 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, respectively, but there’s much more to the pair than just screen size.

    Sure, there’s a new processor, the A8, which promises to be faster and more power-efficient. There’s the new M8 co-processor, which tracks your activity using the phone’s myriad sensors, including a barometer to measure elevation changes. There’s the new display, which promises improved contrast and wider viewing angles, even while wearing polarized sunglasses. And there are the tweaks to the software that powers its 8-megapixel camera: improved face detection, auto-focus, video stabilization, and slow-motion capture.

    The list of iterative improvements is long. There’s little doubt that the new iPhones are the best Apple AAPL -0.87% has ever made.

    But that’s not the goal of this latest crop. Apple’s new iPhones are, perhaps for the first time, openly courting the Google GOOG -2.36% Android users who walked out of Apple’s garden when iOS devices turned stale, looking for a taller glass of milk.

    Samsung, the Korean company that has come to bedevil Apple in recent years, first released a larger-format phone in 2011. People scoffed at the Galaxy Note, which carried a 5.3-inch screen, because it didn’t fit the mold at the time. Was it a phone? Was it a tablet? The answer: a “phablet.” The name was as ugly as the phone was perceived to be.

    Quite a lot of people like using a phone with a bigger screen, it turns out. Each of Samsung’s Note models has broken the 10 million unit mark in the last three years. Total Galaxy Note sales are over 50 million. The Note 4 is expected to debut on October 17, no doubt further support for a new trend in which large-screened phones—sorry, phablets—eat into tablet computer sales.

    And guess who sells an awful lot of tablets?

    There’s a lot riding on the iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. The larger format presents new problems for Apple. The devices’ predecessors were perfected for one-handed use. The new models must rely on software to compensate for the extra screen real estate.