看三星的S6和iPhone 6有多像

Once the titan of global smartphone sales, Samsung is looking to retake its throne after Apple made inroads with its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. On Sunday, in a room filled with technology journalists in Barcelona, Samsung used the 2015 installment of Mobile World Congress to announce the latest models of its Galaxy line of smartphones: the S6 and S6 Edge.

三星一度曾是全球智能手機銷量的霸主，在蘋果憑藉iPhone 6和6 plus強勢攫取了不少用戶後，此番三星再次攜新品洶洶而來，力圖奪回王座。上週日在記者雲集的巴賽羅納2015年世界移動通信大會上，三星發佈了Galaxy系列手機的最新力作：Galaxy S6和S6 Edge。

Both devices take the Galaxy line in a completely new direction, and on multiple fronts. The most apparent change, at least the first time you lay eyes on the duo, is the noticeable lack of plastic formerly synonymous with Samsung smartphones. With the S6 lineup, Samsung opted to go with a combination of metal and a glass housing.

從多個方面看，這兩款手機都將Galaxy系列產品帶向了一個全新的方向。最顯眼的變化（至少是你一次看到這兩款手機的時候），是三星手機的“萬年大塑料”不見了，三星爲S6系列產品首次配備了“金屬+玻璃”的材質組合。

The S6 Edge features a curved display on both edges of the screen, offering enhanced functionality. (An on-stage demonstration showed custom color alerts for incoming calls, and shortcuts to favorite contacts). A revamped fingerprint sensor sits below the home button, foregoing the need for a user to swipe her or her finger across the button. Instead, he or she only needs to place a finger on the button and wait for the scan to complete. The change makes the experience nearly identical to that of Apple’s Touch ID, and appears to eliminate a complaint I had about last year’s Galaxy S5.

S6 Edge首次在屏幕左右兩邊都採用了曲面屏設計，在功能性上有所提高。（在舞臺演示環節中，當有電話呼入時，曲面屏會顯示定製的顏色提醒，另外從曲面屏可以快捷進入常用聯繫人）。Home鍵下嵌入了一顆經過升級的指紋傳感器，使用戶無需像S5那樣掃屏解鎖指紋，而是隻需將手指放在Home鍵上等待掃描完成即可，使用的感覺幾乎和蘋果的Touch ID一模一樣，從而終於打消了我一年前對Galaxy S5指紋識別功能的抱怨。

Sure to disappoint Samsung loyalists, the South Korean company ditched two features long used to mock Apple’s AAPL 0.49% iPhone: expandable storage and a replaceable battery. Looking beyond the aesthetic changes are a faster processor, higher-quality camera, curved display, and wireless charging capabilities.

令不少忠實三星粉感到失望的是，這次三星拋棄了歷來被三星粉用來嘲笑蘋果的兩項“高大上”的技能，即可擴展內存和可更換電池。除了審美層面的變化外，S6還配備了更快的處理器、更高質量的攝像頭、曲面屏以及無線充電功能。

There are two features that have made the new Galaxy models more alluring to me than previous editions. The first is called Samsung Pay. The company’s mobile payment solution takes a two-pronged approach by combining a near-field communication (NFC) chip with the magnetic secure-transmission technology it acquired from LoopPay to transmit payment information between your device and a point-of-sale terminal.

S6有兩個新功能，使它比以前的Galaxy手機對我更有吸引力。其一是所謂的“三星支付”功能，該方案採取了雙管齊下的支付方法，一是集成一塊近場通訊芯片，二是集成了三星從LoopPay公司收購的電磁安全傳輸技術，保障了S6能夠與銷售點終端系統傳送支付信息。

When I reviewed LoopPay last year, I found the technology to be magical, yet disappointing. I was forced to carry around and manage yet another device. The promise behind mobile payments is convenience; the LoopPay fob was not convenient. A quick refresher: You hold the LoopPay fob up to a normal credit card reader, press a button and the machine would interpret the signal in the same manner it would a card being swiped. The payment was then processed, without the machine—and often time the clerk—realizing you did anything different.

去年評測LoopPay的時候，我發現它是一項神奇的技術，但在某種程度上也令人失望，因爲我得隨時帶着另一臺設備，並且還得管理它。移動支付的前景在於它的便利性，而LoopPay配件絕對不夠便利。當你拿着LoopPay配件接近一臺普通的信用卡讀卡器並按下按鈕時，機器解讀LoopPay信號的方式其實與掃描一張普通信用卡沒有什麼不同。不要說讀卡器，就連結賬的售貨員都沒有意識到有什麼區別。

Now that that technology is embedded into the device and combined with the ability to use NFC for payments, Samsung Pay is very appealing. And it has a leg up on Apple Pay, which is limited to working only at retail locations and outlets with the necessary equipment to process NFC payments. (This is a drawback I experienced first-hand when I tried to go a week using Apple Pay for every purchase in my small, Colorado town.)

現在這項技術被嵌入到Galaxy S6中，而且與NFC支付技術進行了整合，使三星支付功能變得非常有吸引力。它在技術上領先了蘋果的Apple Pay一步，因爲後者只能在支持NFC支付的零售場所和終端使用。（這也是我親身體驗的Apple Pay的一個缺點。當時我曾試着在科羅拉多的一個小鎮僅憑Apple Pay購買一週的所有用品。）

With Samsung Pay, users won’t be caught in the middle of a spat between competing payment platforms as Apple is with the likes of CVS completely disabling NFC terminals. So go right ahead, CVS, disable NFC. The Galaxy S6 has a trick up its sleeve.

有了三星支付，用戶就不用再爲了Apple Pay和CVS不支持NFC那點事兒打口水戰了。所以CVS不想支持NFC就讓它不支持吧，Galaxy S6另有一套絕活對付你呢。

Another thing: Each year when Samsung would announce the latest Galaxy device, it would announce a slew of new software-based features that served little purpose. Having a smartphone watch my eyes, then scroll a webpage or pause a video based on where I’m looking? No thanks. The “enhancements” slowed down the device, drained the battery, and offered little benefit to the end user. In other words, they served only to pad the spec sheet.

另一件事：每年三星推出新款Galaxy手機時，都會順便發佈一大堆基本上沒有什麼用的軟件功能（比如眼球追蹤什麼的）。這些所謂的“進步”會讓設備速度變慢，而且也是耗電大戶，且爲終端用戶提供不了什麼福利。換句話說，它的意義就僅限於紙面上。

With this year’s release, Samsung cut the fat, at least with regard to its proprietary user interface known as TouchWiz. Any unnecessary menus or overzealous prompts were left out, it seems. The litany of excess apps notoriously preinstalled on the Galaxy line has been removed. All in all, the company claims to have cut down so-called software bloat by 40 percent, and the phones now include only a trio of Microsoft apps and select Samsung apps (S Health and Milk, Samsung’s music service). At least, until wireless carriers get a hold of it.

在今年的發佈會中，三星把這些東西都刪去了，至少在它的TouchWiz界面中，貌似所有不必要的菜單和過分熱心的提示都不見了。Galaxy手機一向惡評如潮的大量預裝軟件也不見了蹤影。總而言之，三星稱已將這些無用軟件刪減了40%，目前手機上只預裝了微軟的“三件套”和一些精選三星應用（比如S健康和三星的音樂服務Milk等）——至少在運營商往裏摻他們那些玩意兒之前是這樣。

For years, Samsung’s flagship phones have been long on features, but short on follow-through—at least to me. The new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge appear to lay the groundwork for a lineup of devices that are quite the opposite.

多年以來，三星的旗艦手機一直是長於功能，短於跟進——至少在我看來是這樣。而最新的Galaxy S6和S6 Edge則代表了三星開始選擇另一條道路，併爲以後的一系列機型奠定了道路。