三星對決LG 柔性智能手機之爭

The moment you’ve all been waiting for it here — possibly. LG Electronics has rolled out what it says is the first mobile device that can be bent out of shape or pressed flat onto a desk.

這個時刻，大家都在等待這款手機——或許是。LG電子推出了其自稱的全球第一款柔性手機，該手機可彎曲，也可放在桌面上壓平。

It’s a neat party trick, but LG along with that other flexi-phone frontrunner Samsung, will be carefully watching how consumers take these devices up before spending more to make them bend any further.

這非常吸引人，但LG和另一家柔性手機領域的先鋒企業三星在花更多心思讓它們能進一步彎曲之前，將謹慎觀察消費者對此類設備的接受程度。

This week, LG Electronics launched what it’s calling the world’s first flexible smartphone, the six-inch, gently-curving G Flex. It went on sale in South Korea and will stay on the shelves for 10 days, with a not-so-gentle price of $940. If and when LG brings it to the U.S. in early 2014, a spokesman says the price with carrier contracts would be on par with other high-end smartphones. It goes on sale in Hong Kong on Dec. 13, and France in February 2014 with France Telecom

本週，LG電子發佈了它稱之爲全球首款柔性智能手機的最新產品——G Flex，該6英寸屏手機可輕微彎曲，將在韓國銷售，上架時間爲10天，售價高達940美元。一位發言人表示，如果LG在2014年初在美國發售這款手機，合約機價格會與其他高端智能機相當。在香港的發售時間爲12月13日，在法國會由法國電信公司Orange在2014年2月發售。

LG representatives stopped by Forbes’s San Francisco office on Wednesday to give a demo of the G Flex, and show off its flexible qualities.

LG的代表週三拜訪了福布斯位於舊金山的辦公室，對G Flex進行了一番演示，並展示了它的柔性特色。

Actually, “flexible” is a subjective here. Place the curved phone face down on a level surface and you can press it flat. Try to bend each end with your fingers and it will give way somewhat. When I asked if the device could bend right the other way, LG spokesman Chaz Abbott managed, with some effort, to get it to give a little more.

實際上，這裏的“柔性”具有主觀性。把彎起的手機面朝下放在水平表面上，你就能把它壓平。用你的手指握住手機的兩端向內彎折，手機會在一定程度上彎曲。當我問到這款設備是否能在另一個方向彎曲時，LG發言人查斯·阿博特（Chaz Abbott）用了點力氣，讓手機更彎了一點。

The G Flex is the product of years of research and development, with LG and arch rival Samsung the big device makers rushing to be the first to bring a curved phone to market. There had been rumors in 2012 that such phones would hit shelves earlier than now, and there are various reasons why it’s taken this long. First, executives need to be confident these kinds of devices will actually sell. LG’s CTO Skott Ahn told me earlier this year that it was hard to tell if consumers wanted phones with curved screens, never mind phones that were flexible.

G FLEX是多年研發的成果，LG和主要競爭對手三星這兩大生產商爭着要做第一個推出曲面手機的公司。2012年時曾有傳言稱，此類手機將早於現在這個時間上架，而爲何花了這麼久才最終推出，存在多種原因。首先，高管們需要確信，這類設備實際上將能夠銷售。LG的首席技術官安承權（Skott Ahn）今年早些時候曾告訴我，很難說消費者是否會想要一款曲面手機，更不要提柔性手機了。

Curved phones fit the face nicely when you’re talking, they bring the mic closer so that your voice sounds clear, and the curved display makes for a slightly more enjoyable movie-watching experience. Plus that pliability makes the G Flex a little more durable when it’s dropped or knocked. It’s an open question, though, whether LG’s manufacturing efforts will pay off in sales, and they were big efforts.

當你打電話時，曲面手機能很好地貼合面部線條，你的嘴離通話麥克風更近，這樣你的聲音聽起來會更清晰，而且曲面顯示屏可略微提升在手機上觀看視頻的體驗。此外，在掉落或磕碰的情況下，手機的柔韌性可讓G Flex更耐用。然而，銷售是否能彌補LG在製造工藝上付出的努力——是艱鉅的努力——仍然沒有定論。

“It took a while to get the manufacturing tools in place, ” said Abbott, adding that LG had to buy and make its own machinery to manufacture the flexible phones.

“準備好製造工具就花了一段時間。”阿博特說，他補充說，LG不得不購買並製造自己的機器設備，以生產柔性手機。

Another challenge was in creating displays that can bend over and over. The G Flex contains a plastic OLED display, covered by a thin glass coating from LG Chem

另一個挑戰就是製造出能一再被彎折的顯示屏。G Flex採用塑料OLED顯示屏，上面覆蓋薄薄的一層由LG化學公司生產的玻璃塗層，最後的大猩猩玻璃層由康寧公司（Corning）生產。

Universal Display, which does joint development on flexible screens with Samsung and LG. The other challenge is making sure plastic OLED displays can withstand the temperatures for processing substrates on top.

美國通用顯示器公司（Universal Display）技術商品化副總裁賈尼斯·馬翁（Janice Mahon）表示，像LG這樣的顯示屏生產商花了多年時間，纔打造出最初的一款足夠密封、不會輕易讓氣體和水汽透過屏幕的塑料OLED層。通用顯示器公司與三星和LG聯合開發柔性屏幕。另一個挑戰是要確保塑料OLED顯示屏能夠經受住加工疊加在其上的基板時的溫度。

Samsung’s own curved device, the Round, curves horizontally and is in a fixed position, making it an early step in the gradual evolution flexible devices. “We look at the whole flexible whole opportunity as being akin to learning to crawl, then walk, then learning to run a marathon, ” said Universal Display’s Mahon. “The first flexible displays on the market will be put into a fixed, rigid embodiment, curved into a smartphone.” They’ll aim to be better on form factor and ergonomics. “Those are benefits at the first stage, ” she said. Eventually the technology will become more robust and manufacturers can take small steps towards something more advanced, like a pen with a screen that rolls out. (See the concept image from Universal Display below.)

三星自己的曲面設備GALAXY Round爲橫向彎曲，且彎曲弧度固定，在向柔性設備的逐漸演化中邁出了較早的一步。“我們將整個研發柔性屏的過程看成這樣一個過程：先學習爬、然後學會走、然後學會跑馬拉松。”通用顯示器公司的馬翁表示，“市場上第一批柔性顯示屏將採用固定弧度，不能自由彎曲，在智能手機中使用。”這種顯示屏具有更出色的硬件規格和人體工程學設計。“這些是第一階段就能實現的好處。”她說。最終，該技術將更爲可靠穩健，製造商可採取小步走的方式，生產出某種更先進的產品，比如在一支筆上，屏幕可以展開（參見下面的通用顯示器公司的概念產品圖片）。

Mahon believes the world is three to five years away from something like this concept pen. In fact, a recent patent filing by Samsung shoes a very similar, pen-like device with a pull-out, flexible display. Mahon says researchers are currently looking at use cases for flexible displays in pens, wearable technology and even fabrics.

馬翁相信，再過三至五年，類似這種概念鋼筆的某樣東西就會出現。事實上，最近由三星提交的一份專利申請就是一款與之非常類似、像鋼筆一樣的設備，上面有一塊可以拉出的柔性顯示屏。馬翁說，研究人員目前正在研究柔性顯示屏在鋼筆、可穿戴技術甚至織物上的使用案例。

LG’s Ramchan Woo, head of the company’s mobile product planning division, said at a launch event for the G Flex on Tuesday that he saw smartphones moving towards “curved, bendable, foldable, and wearable” devices, but he didn’t elaborate on how LG would further develop its flexible device technology.

LG移動產品策劃部門主管Ramchan Woo在本週二G Flex的發佈會上表示，他看到智能手機正向“曲面、可彎曲、可摺疊、可穿戴”設備的方向發展，但他未詳細說明LG柔性設備技術會如何進一步發展。

Might LG bring out a smaller version of a bendable phone? “The engineers figure that the six-inch display is optimal for that curvature, ” Abbott answered.

可能LG會推出一款較小型的可彎曲智能手機？“工程師們認爲，6英寸顯示屏對這類可彎曲手機來說是最合適的。”阿博特回答道。

For now LG is targeting early adopters and people who like watching movies or playing games on their phones. “That content could be viewed more easily in an immersive display, ” he added. The proof will be in unit sales, which is probably why LG is sitting tight, and not saying very much about where the G Flex might go from here.

眼下，LG的目標是早期採用者和喜歡用手機看電影或玩遊戲的人。“那類內容在一款沉浸式顯示屏上看起來會更加輕鬆。”他補充說。證據就是銷量，這可能是LG爲何採取觀望態度，沒有對G Flex未來的發展方向做太多說明的原因。