世界移动通信大会上，可折叠手机隆重登场

巴塞罗那的世界移动通信大会（Mobile World Congress）总有那么一些狂欢节拉客的架势，从巨头手机厂商到最不知名的初创公司，所有人都在努力吸引大约10万名参会观众的兴趣。今年，三星（Samsung）、索尼（Sony）和其他公司的展台前依旧集满了试玩最新设备的游客。此外，还有几架可以让你在虚拟现实环境中体验“打车”的无人驾驶空中的士、一款蝙蝠侠大战稻草人的虚拟现实游戏，以及谷歌（Google）的寻宝游戏，虽然在拥挤的展会上这个游戏有点过于复杂了。

不过，吸引最多观众的是几款无法触碰的产品。三星、华为和TCL都公布了可以展开变成大屏平板电脑的手机，而且都把它们带到了现场，并锁在密封的玻璃展柜中。三星的Galaxy Fold在外部配有一块手机屏幕，还可以像书本一样展开，露出内部另一块7.3英寸的屏幕。它被放置在一个带有微型游乐场镜子厅模型的陈列柜里，观众很难看到它的两侧。这可能是因为与我们如今习惯的轻薄款手机相比，它显得更加厚重。

我与三星的移动产品高级副总裁贾斯汀·丹尼森坐下来聊了一会，他把Fold说得近乎天花乱坠，却也没有拿出一部来让我近距离观察。Fold的起售价将近2,000美元，对于它可以同时在屏幕上运行三个应用的标志性特色，我可没有丹尼森那样激动万分。而即使他也承认，这款手机还有些地方需要改进。

他表示：“我认为这款设备肯定是为早期尝试者准备的。通常，早期尝试者是第一批爱好者，他们从这类创新上看到了最大的价值。”

TCL表示还需要一年时间来公布正式的折叠产品，公司希望把它的价格降到1,000美元以下。丹尼森暗示三星也会这么做。他表示：“对于任何技术创新，你都会希望它不要那么高不可攀，不过此次我们不会做出特别说明或承诺。”当记者在4月26日产品上市之前拿到样机时，还会有更多内容揭露。

华为的Mate X似乎更加轻薄，可能会让一些人更为激动。它的起售价为2,600美元。这款设备的折叠屏位于外侧。当折叠成手机模式时，这块8英寸的屏幕有大约一半位于正面，另一半位于背面。你可以把它打开，将其转变成平板电脑模式。它同样位于陈列柜里，不过玻璃四面透明，更易看清。一位友好的华为员工甚至为我拍了一张铰链后侧的照片。然而，这款手机的发货日期是今年年中，具体时间有些不确定，而且华为手机并未在美国广泛发售。

一台像手机一样又小又轻，却又能在需要的时候提供大屏幕的设备显然非常实用。另一方面，使用早期的版本需要做出一些牺牲，例如它价格更高、外形更笨重，软件也可能存在问题。我认为我会静待第二代产品上市，你呢？（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona always has a bit of carnival barker’s edge, as everyone from giant phonemakers to the most obscure startups vie for the attention of some 100,000 attendees. This year, in addition to the usual packed hands on areas for playing with the latest devices from Samsung, Sony, and others there are a couple of autonomous air taxis you can sit in for a “ride” in virtual reality, a Batman versus Scarecrow VR game, and some kind of Google scavenger hunt that was little too convoluted for this busy conference goer.

But it’s a couple of the items that you can’t touch that are drawing the biggest crowds. Samsung, Huawei and TCL have all announced one form or another of phones that unfold into larger-screened tablets. And they’re all here on site–locked up in sealed glass cases. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, which has a phone screen on the outside and opens like a book with a separate 7.3-inch screen on the inside, is set in a mini funhouse hall of mirrors display case that makes it hard to see the sides. That may be because the device is on the thicker and heavier side compared to the thin phones we’ve grown used to carrying.

When I sat down with Justin Denison, Samsung’s senior VP of mobile products, he was almost giddy in discussing the Fold, though he didn’t bring one along for closer inspection. Starting at almost $2,000, I’m not sure I’m as excited as Denison about the Fold’s signature feature of placing three mobile apps on screen at once. And even he concedes it’s a bit of a work in progress.

“I definitely think this device is for an early adopter,” he says. “Typically your early adopters are the ones that engage first, that find the most value in that type of innovation.”

TCL said it was holding off a year before announcing actual folding products, hoping to get under the $1,000 price level. As you’d expect, Denison hinted Samsung’s products would do the same. “With any technology innovation that takes (hold), you will tend to expect it to move down the portfolio but we’re not making any particular announcements or promises at this time,” he says. There will be a lot more to say when review units get into reporter’s hands ahead of the expected April 26 launch date.

Some people have been more excited about Huawei’s seemingly thinner Mate X device, which will start at $2,600. Here, the folding screen is on the outside. When the device is closed in phone mode, about half of the 8-inch display can be used on the front and half on the back. You unfold it outwards to get the tablet mode. It’s also locked up on display here although easier to see in an all-clear glass case. A friendly Huawei staffer even snapped a picture of the back hinge side for me. The shipping date of the middle of the year is a little vague, however, and Huawei phones don’t have wide distribution in the United States.

There’s obviously great utility in having a device that’s as small and light weight as a phone but offering a much larger screen when you want it. On the other hand, early versions will have trade-offs, like the higher prices, heftier sizes and likely software oddities. I think I’ll wait for the second generation. How about you?