小蟻運動相機 是否物美價廉

Ten years is a long time in the technology industry. It was 2006 when GoPro released its first digital camera — a waterproof, shockproof device with 32MB of memory for $80.

十年在科技業是一個很長的時間。2006年，GoPro發佈了其首款數碼相機——防水抗摔、32MB記憶容量，售價80美元。

A decade on, GoPro is publicly listed with sales set to exceed $1.6bn in 2015. Its cameras sell for up to $500 but new competition is pulling the price back.

十年過去了，GoPro已經上市，2015年的銷售額將會超過16億美元。該公司相機最高售價達到500美元，但新的競爭正在壓低價格。

Last week, GoPro warned that the past quarter had not been as successful as it had hoped. Its shares fell faster than a base jumper, wiping hundreds of millions of dollars from its valuation.

最近GoPro警告稱，上一個季度不像之前期待的那麼成功。該公司股價大跌，抹去數億美元市值。

In 2006, GoPro’s action camera was unique but today it is facing an attack of the clones, led by the $100 Yi Action, above.

2006年，GoPro的運動相機還是獨一無二的，但現在它面臨以售價100美元的小蟻運動相機(Yi Action)爲首的同類產品的競爭。

Shared likeness

共享的相似性

Its manufacturer, Xiaoyi, which makes home security cameras, is a China-based affiliate of local smartphone maker Xiaomi. It uses the tagline “See Different” but its cameras look pretty familiar.

小蟻運動相機的製造商小蟻(Xiaoyi)生產家庭安保攝像頭，是中國智能手機制造商小米(Xiaomi)旗下的子公司。小蟻推出了“改變你的拍攝方式”的標語，但它的相機看起來相當眼熟。

Placed side by side, it is not immediately easy to tell the Yi Action camera from the long-running GoPro design. Both are matchbox size with an off-centre fisheye lens and two big control buttons.

如果把它們放在一起，很難一下子分辨出哪個是小蟻，哪個是早就推出的GoPro。兩款相機都是火柴盒大小，都有一個偏離機身中心的超廣角鏡頭和兩個較大的控制按鈕。

The Yi’s waterproof case, an extra $30, even has the same three-ringed screw that fits many GoPro accessories.

小蟻的防水型相機價格還要高30美元，該款相機甚至有三環螺桿，適配許多GoPro配件。

The similarity is more than skin deep. The Yi camera uses a 16 megapixel Sony Exmor R image sensor, similar to those in GoPro’s line-up, and the same Ambarella chipset that is used in GoPro’s cube-shaped Hero4 Session, its latest camera. The Session was priced at $400 but by December that had been slashed to $200.

相似之處並非只有外觀。小蟻相機使用了1600萬像素的索尼Exmor R影像傳感器，與GoPro的配置類似，它還使用了與GoPro最新推出的立方體形狀的Hero4 Session上一模一樣的安霸(Ambarella)芯片組。Hero4 Session最初售價400美元，但到去年12月已大幅下跌至200美元。

The Yi does make some concessions to cost, including an all-plastic case instead of the metallic plate often found on higher-end GoPros. With the ability to shoot in full 1080p high-definition at a slow-motion-friendly 60 frames a second, however, its specs are at least as good as the $200 GoPro Hero+.

小蟻相機確實節約了一些成本，包括全塑料外殼，而不是較高端的GoPro相機往往採用的金屬材質。 然而，小蟻相機能夠以1秒60幀的速度拍攝1080P的全高清畫面，輕鬆獲得慢動作效果，這樣的配置至少和200美元的GoPro Hero+一樣好。

The images reflect the high-quality parts. I took a Yi and a GoPro Session on a road trip in snowy US National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Both cameras produced excellent pictures and videos, with the GoPro’s higher resolution noticeable only if you zoom in.

圖像反映出相機部件的質量非常高。我帶上小蟻和GoPro Session驅車前往美國猶他州和亞利桑那州大雪覆蓋的國家公園。兩個相機都拍攝出了精美的相片和視頻，只有在放大的時候纔會注意到GoPro的分辨率更高一些。

Because both lack screens, most controls are done by wireless connection to a smartphone. I found the Yi app better than GoPro’s, which often struggled to connect to the camera. Neither excelled in low light but both survived the sub-zero temperatures of the Grand Canyon — unlike my iPhone, which lost its charge.

由於兩款相機都沒有屏幕，大多數控制通過與智能手機的無線連接完成。我發現小蟻的APP比GoPro更好一些，後者往往很難實現與相機的連接。兩個相機在低光環境的表現都不怎麼樣，但在美國大峽谷零度以下的環境下還能使用——這與我的iPhone不一樣，它的電池會失去電力。

In short, other than queasy feelings about intellectual property, I see little reason why anyone would pay twice as much for a low-end GoPro when they could have the Yi — with change left for a selfie stick.

簡言之，除了對知識產權感覺不安以外，我不明白爲何人們在可以買小蟻的時候會花兩倍的價格買低配的GoPro——省下的錢可以買自拍杆。

Three rooms for one

1臺設備監控3個房間

If GoPro is seeing the effect of competition from this Chinese rival, Nest should be worried by Yi’s home camera. The Alphabet-owned smart-home pioneer’s Nest Cam is seen as the leading security webcam, but at $200, it already looked pricey.

如果說GoPro看到了這家中國競爭對手的競爭的影響，那麼Nest應該擔憂小蟻的家用攝像頭。Alphabet旗下這家智能家居先驅公司的Nest Cam被視爲領先的安全網絡攝像頭，但200美元的價格已經顯得有些貴了。

That was before Yi arrived with its product, which costs $60. You can remotely monitor three rooms for the price of one Nest Cam. Again, there are trade-offs: the Yi Smart camera has only 720p video resolution, unlike Nest’s 1080p, and the plastic finish is less elegant than its US rival’s metal body.

那還是在小蟻推出其售價60美元的產品之前。你可以用一臺Nest Cam的價格遠程監控3個房間。同樣，這裏的取捨是：小蟻智能攝像頭只有720P視頻分辨率，而Nest有1080P，而且其塑料材質也不如美國競爭對手的金屬機身美觀。

At first glance, though, the two products again look similar. Take the camera modules out of their stands and I struggle to discern a difference.

不過乍看之下，這兩款產品再次顯得有些相像。從支架上取下攝像頭模塊，我很難看出兩者的差異。

Much of the magic of these devices is in the software. Nest Cam made big improvements over its predecessor, Dropcam, in eliminating false alarms. Yi Camera, however, apes the Dropcam’s tendency to jump at its own shadow. Every evening, it interpreted its own switch to night-vision mode as an intrusion alert.

這些設備的許多神奇體現在軟件中。Nest Cam在消除錯誤報警方面比其前款產品Dropcam有了明顯改善。然而，小蟻繼承了Dropcam誤報警告的傾向。每個晚上，它都會因自己轉向夜間模式而發出入侵警告。

The Yi, however, has a trick that almost makes this worth bearing. Whereas Nest charges $10 a month for cloud storage of videos, Yi Camera has its own micro SD card slot, to which clips can be saved at no cost.

然而，小蟻用一個小技巧讓人們幾乎可以忍受這個缺陷。Nest對視頻雲存儲每月收取10美元的費用，而小蟻自帶micro SD卡槽，可以免費存儲視頻片段。

Verdict

結論

Xiaomi’s smartphones have long been criticised for looking like an iPhone but, its software innovations are enough to fend off copycat accusations. However, Yi’s cameras have little such differentiation — just a big price advantage.

小米智能手機一直因酷似iPhone而遭受批評，但軟件創新足以讓其避免抄襲的指責。然而，小蟻相機幾乎沒有此類差異化，只是有巨大的價格優勢。

Does the high quality of these GoPro and Nest rivals excuse the flagrant imitation? GoPro’s sudden drop in sales suggests many customers believe it does.

GoPro和Nest的這些競爭對手的優質性能可以作爲公然模仿的藉口嗎？GoPro銷售突然下降表明，許多客戶認爲可以。