科技頭條:最新功能,手機通訊錄推薦

Your friends and contacts change jobs, phone numbers, email addresses, and residences All the time. But keeping your digital address book or contact list current with all these changes is tedious at best and often impossible. So, the contacts on most smartphones and computers are usually out of date and incomplete.

你的朋友和聯繫人總在更換工作、電話號碼、郵箱地址和住址。要使你的電子通訊錄或聯繫人列表跟上所有這些變動是項繁複乏味的工作，而且通常是無法實現的。因此，大多數人的智能手機和電腦上的聯繫人信息都是過時且不完整的。

Now, a tiny Silicon Valley startup called Addappt is trying to end all that by making your address book self-updating. The company is offering a free service and contacts app of the same name for the iPhone that matches people in each others' address books, and then automatically updates their information when changes occur.

現在，硅谷一家名爲Addappt的小公司正在嘗試讓你的通訊錄能夠自動更新，從而結束上述煩惱。這家公司提供一項免費服務以及與公司同名的iPhone通訊錄應用程序，該應用可以將其註冊用戶與你通訊錄上的人進行匹配，關聯上之後，一旦他們的信息變動，你的通訊錄就會自動更新。

For instance, in my tests of Addappt, one of my colleagues who was helping me try it out updated her home address on her own phone, and the new address appeared within minutes on her contact card in my phone's address book. In turn, I added an additional phone number to my address record on my phone, and it showed up in her information for me almost immediately. No manual changes were needed on either end.

比如，在我測試Addappt時，一個幫我進行測試的同事在她自己的手機上更新了她的家庭住址，短短几分鐘內，我手機通訊錄裏她的名片頁就顯示出了該新住址。反過來，我在我的手機上往自己的聯繫信息中加了一個額外的電話號碼，而這幾乎立即就出現在了她的手機上。兩端都不需要進行任何手動操作。

Addappt users control their own information. Only the person who is the subject of a contact card can make changes that will be synchronized through Addappt. It isn't a social network, and it has no ties to Facebook or Twitter. Addappt says it stores only your own record, not your whole address book, on its servers. The idea is to focus on the address book, and make it better, not clutter it up.

用戶自己的信息由用戶負責管理。每張名片只能被它的所有人更改，而這些更改將通過Addappt被同步。它不是一個社交網絡，而且與Facebook或Twitter沒有關聯。Addappt公司說，他們在服務器上只保存你本人的記錄，而不是你的整個通訊錄。這個構想是專注於通訊錄，使它變得更完善，而不是把它搞複雜。

After testing Addappt, I can say it does what it promises. I tried it successfully with several people. I was able to use Addappt itself as my address book, or to stick with my phone's familiar contacts app, because Addappt instantly shares any changes with the built-in iPhone app, and vice versa. In fact, if you use Apple's iCloud to synchronize your own address books, changes made automatically by Addappt can be propagated to all iCloud-connected devices, including iPads and Macs.

在測試Addappt之後，我可以說它做到了它所承諾的。我與好幾個人進行的測試都成功了。我可以將Addappt本身作爲我的通訊錄，或者繼續使用我手機上我所熟悉的通訊錄應用，因爲Addappt會立即把所有信息變更同步到iPhone的內置通訊錄應用上，反之亦然。事實上，如果你使用蘋果iCloud來同步你的通訊錄，由Addappt自動做出的任何改動都可以傳到你所有與iCloud相連的設備上，包括iPad和Mac電腦。

However, this is a new product from a company with few resources, so it is just starting out. That means it has some limitations and flaws that keep it, at least for now, from being a universal, living address book.

不過，Addappt是由一家沒多少資源的公司開發的新產品，所以它僅僅處於起步階段。這意味着它存在一定的侷限性和一些瑕疵，這使得它至少在目前很難成爲一款普遍適用的、實時的通訊錄。

One limitation is that because Addappt is an iPhone-only app, you can't get self-updating information for those people in your address book who don't use iPhones. The company says it hopes to add an Android version by the middle of 2013, and has longer-range plans for other platforms.

侷限之一：因爲Addappt是一款僅支持iPhone的應用，你無法自動獲得你通訊錄中那些不使用iPhone的人對通訊信息進行的更新。該公司說它希望在2013年年中開發出安卓版本，並且有開發兼容其他平臺的版本的長期計劃。

Another is that, to gain the benefits of Addappt, you have to convince even your iPhone-using contacts to download and use it. But the company makes this somewhat difficult. Every new user must apply for an invitation code to activate the app. The company says this process is needed to authenticate people, and to guard against a surge of new users, which might swamp its servers.

另一侷限是，要想充分享受Addappt帶來的便利，對於你那些使用iPhone的聯繫人，你也得說服他們下載並使用這款應用。但是這家公司把這一過程弄得有些麻煩──每一位新用戶必須先申請到一個邀請碼以激活這款應用。該公司稱這一過程對於用戶的身份驗證來說是必需的，另外也可防止大量用戶的涌入導致服務器癱瘓。

And the app has some flaws. It can't make a match between two Addappt users, even if they're in each others' iPhone contact lists, unless their current contact cards have the email address each used to join Addappt (it must be the top email on the contact card) or your name and the top phone number listed. Also, I found the Alphabetical index down the side of the Addappt app, meant to save you from scrolling through long lists, worked poorly.

而且這款應用程序有一些瑕疵。它對兩個Addappt用戶進行匹配必須滿足以下條件：他們現在的聯繫人卡片中有他們各自用於註冊Addappt賬號的郵件地址（而且該地址必須是其聯繫人卡片中的首選郵件地址）或者你的名字以及首選電話號碼在列，除此之外，即使這兩個Addappt用戶都在對方的iPhone聯繫人列表中也不能自動匹配。並且，我發現這款應用的字母索引在底部，這項功能的初衷是讓你不必滾動長長的列表進行查找，但其實它很不好用。

In addition, the Addappt app lacks a Favorites or Recents list. Finally, while the company swears it will never share or sell or rent any contact information, it has yet to post a formal privacy policy.

另外，Addappt沒有常用聯繫人和最近聯繫人列表。最後一點，雖然這家公司發誓說它永遠不會分享、出售或者租賃任何聯繫人信息，但它尚未公佈正式的隱私保護政策。

In many other respects, however, the app is nicely designed and easy to use. Once it is up and running, it scans your address book to see if it can match any of your contacts to other Addappt users. If it can, it automatically connects you with them. As people in your address book join and use Addappt, they also get connected.

無論如何，在其他許多方面，這款應用程序都設計得很棒，並且使用方便。一旦它被設置好並且開始工作，它便會掃描你的通訊錄以查看它是否能將你通訊錄中的聯繫人與其他Addappt用戶配對。如果可以，它便會自動將你和他們關聯上。當你的手機聯繫人中有人註冊並開始使用Addappt，它同樣能將他們與你關聯。

Addappt users who aren't in each others' address books can ask for permission to connect. The app includes a list of connected users, and pending connections, as well as your entire address book. In the main list, connected users are designated by small icons showing two links of a chain.

對於沒有在通訊錄上記錄彼此聯繫方式的Addappt用戶，可以通過發送請求來建立聯繫。這款應用程序包含一個已建立聯繫的聯繫人列表，一個等待認證的聯繫人列表以及你的完整通訊錄。在主列表中，已建立聯繫的用戶被形狀爲帶兩個鏈環的一根鏈條的小圖標標示出來。

Addappt's address book itself is attractive and easy to use. As you scroll through it, the contact at the top of the screen expands to show more information -- such as the city and state -- and even the local time (so you don't wake people up in the middle of the night). Icons appear that allow you immediately to make a voice call, or to send an email or text, without opening the contact entry.

Addappt的通訊錄本身很有吸引力並且易用。當你滾動它時，位於屏幕頂端的聯繫人條目會展開，以顯示更多信息──諸如其所在的州和城市──甚至當地時間（因而你不會在對方的深夜時間將其吵醒）。展開的條目上還會出現一些圖標，讓你可以立即撥打語音電話，或者發送郵件或消息，而不需打開該聯繫人條目。

What information for a person in your contact book will change once you are connected to him or her on Addappt? It depends. For some things, like name or photo or job title, the other person's choices will obliterate yours.

一旦你在Addappt上與某人建立聯繫，你通訊錄中與該聯繫人對應的哪些信息會被更改？這得看情況。對於有些東西，諸如名字、照片和職位，對方提供的信息將會沖掉你原本的記錄。

For others, like phone numbers, which can have multiple entries, information you've entered for the person will be preserved, and the contact's own new information will be added.

對於其他可以同時保存多條記錄的信息，諸如電話號碼，你已經爲聯繫人錄入的信息將被保留，而該聯繫人自己的新信息將會被添加進來。

Contacts' pictures in Addappt are supplied by the person whose contact it is, and are displayed in a large size on the contact card.

Addappt中聯繫人的照片由聯繫人本人提供，並且在聯繫人卡片上以大尺寸顯示。

The product has no advertising. The company hopes to make money eventually by selling premium versions with additional features.

這款產品沒有插入廣告。該公司希望最終能通過銷售帶附加功能的高級版本掙錢。

Addappt is a promising product that could solve a real problem. But it can't reach its full potential until it runs on all platforms.

Addappt是一款很有前途的產品，它可能能幫人們解決一個很實際的問題。但在能兼容所有平臺前，它還無法充分發揮其潛力。