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.这个时刻,大家都在等候这款手机——也许是。LG电子发售了其自称为的全球第一款柔性手机,该手机可倾斜,也可放到桌面上压平。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.这十分更有人,但LG和另一家柔性手机领域的先锋企业三星在花上更加多心思让它们能更进一步倾斜之前,将慎重仔细观察消费者对此类设备的接受程度。
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本周,LG电子公布了它称作全球首款柔性智能手机的近期产品——G Flex,该6英寸屏手机可严重倾斜,将在韩国销售,下架时间为10天,售价高达940美元。一位发言人回应,如果LG在2014年初在美国发售这款手机,合约机价格不会与其他高端智能机非常。在香港的发售时间为12月13日,在法国不会由法国电信公司Orange在2014年2月发售。
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的代表周三造访了福布斯坐落于旧金山的办公室,对G Flex展开了一番展示,并展出了它的柔性特色。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.实质上,这里的“柔性”具备主观性。
把弯起的手机面朝下放到水平表面上,你就能把它压平。用你的手指握手机的两端向内刀柄,手机不会在一定程度上倾斜。
当我回答到这款设备否能在另一个方向倾斜时,LG发言人查斯·阿博特(Chaz Abbott)用了点力气,让手机更加转弯了一点。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是多年研发的成果,LG和主要竞争对手三星这两大生产商相争着要做到第一个发售曲面手机的公司。
2012年时曾有传言称之为,此类手机将早现在这个时间下架,而为何花上了这么久才最后发售,不存在多种原因。首先,高管们必须相信,这类设备实质上将需要销售。LG的首席技术官安承权(Skott Ahn)今年早些时候曾告诉他我,很难说消费者否不会想一款曲面手机,更加不要托柔性手机了。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.当你打电话时,曲面手机能很好地契合面部线条,你的嘴离通话麦克风更加将近,这样你的声音听得一起不会更加明晰,而且曲面显示屏可稍微提高在手机上观赏视频的体验。
此外,在掉下来或磕碰的情况下,手机的柔韧性并能G Flex更加轻巧。然而,销售否能填补LG在生产工艺上代价的希望——是艰难的希望——依然没定论。
“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.“准备好生产工具就花上了一段时间。”阿博特说道,他补足说道,LG被迫出售并生产自己的机器设备,以生产柔性手机。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另一个挑战就是生产出能再三被刀柄的显示屏。
G Flex使用塑料OLED显示屏,上面覆盖面积薄薄的一层由LG化学公司生产的玻璃涂层,最后的大猩猩玻璃层由康宁公司(Corning)生产。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.美国通用显示器公司(Universal Display)技术商品化副总裁贾尼斯·马翁(Janice Mahon)回应,像LG这样的显示屏生产商花上了多年时间,才打造出最初的一款充足密封、会只能让气体和水汽利用屏幕的塑料OLED层。通用显示器公司与三星和LG联合开发柔性屏幕。另一个挑战是要保证塑料OLED显示屏需要遭受寄居加工变换在其上的基板时的温度。
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.)三星自己的曲面设备GALAXY Round为纵向倾斜,且倾斜弧度相同,在向柔性设备的渐渐进化中迈进了较早于的一步。“我们将整个研发柔性屏的过程看作这样一个过程:再行自学爬到、然后学会回头、然后学会跑完马拉松。
”通用显示器公司的马翁回应,“市场上第一批柔性显示屏将使用相同弧度,无法权利倾斜,在智能手机中用于。”这种显示屏具备更加出众的硬件规格和人体工程学设计。“这些是第一阶段就能构建的益处。”她说道。
最后,该技术将更加可信务实,制造商可采行小步回头的方式,生产出有某种更加先进设备的产品,比如在一支笔上,屏幕可以进行(参看下面的通用显示器公司的概念产品图片)。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.马翁坚信,再行过三至五年,类似于这种概念钢笔的某样东西就不会经常出现。事实上,最近由三星递交的一份专利申请就是一款与之十分类似于、像钢笔一样的设备,上面有一块可以推入的柔性显示屏。
马翁说道,研究人员目前正在研究柔性显示屏在钢笔、可穿着技术甚至织物上的用于案例。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移动产品策划部门主管Ramchan Woo在本周二G Flex的发布会上回应,他看见智能手机相反“曲面、可倾斜、可拆卸、可穿着”设备的方向发展,但他并未详尽解释LG柔性设备技术不会如何更进一步发展。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.有可能LG不会发售一款较小型的可倾斜智能手机?“工程师们指出,6英寸显示屏对这类可倾斜手机来说是合适的。
”阿博特问道。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的目标是早期使用者和讨厌用手机看电影或玩游戏的人。“那类内容在一款沉浸式显示屏上看上去不会更为精彩。
”他补足说道。证据就是销量,这有可能是LG为何采行从容态度,没对G Flex未来的发展方向做到过于多解释的原因。
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