iPhone 6 Plus 可以替代電腦的平板手機

It’s time to make peace with the term phablet.

現在是時候坦然接受“平板手機”(phablet)這個詞了。

Sure, the tech industry could have come up with a prettier, less jarring way to refer to smartphones that are big enough to be used as tablet computers. But phablets deserve their own unforgettably descriptive name. They aren’t simply large-screen phones. They are a distinctly new type of computing device, a machine that is often more useful, and more versatile, than either smartphones or laptops.

當然，科技業本可以想出一個更加漂亮、更加悅耳的詞，來稱呼這種大到足以被當作平板電腦用的智能手機。但平板手機有資格擁有一個令人難忘的描述性名稱。它們不只是屏幕很大的手機，而是一種明顯屬於新類型的計算設備，常常比各種智能手機或筆記本電腦更加有用、更加靈活。

Phablets could even become the dominant computing device of the future — the most popular kind of phone on the market, and perhaps the only computer many of us need.

平板手機甚至可能成爲未來的主導性計算設備——市場上最流行的一種手機，很多人也許只需要這種電腦就夠了。

Now, I’ve long been on the record as hating big phones. But this week I decided to try using the latest one, Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus, with its 5.5-inch display, as my primary, all-purpose computer — a machine for work, fun and everything in between. I had to make occasional stops at my laptop to write my articles, but I ended up spending about 80 to 90 percent of my computing time with Apple’s big phone.

一直以來，我都公開表示不喜歡大尺寸手機。但本週，我決定試用一下蘋果最新的、5.5英寸屏的iPhone 6 Plus，把它當作我的多功能主電腦，開展從工作到娛樂的一切活動。雖然我不得不偶爾打開筆記本電腦來寫文章，但我所有計算機時間的大約80%至90%都用在了蘋果公司的大尺寸手機上。

I didn’t exactly prefer this lifestyle; if you’ve got the resources and patience to buy a laptop, smartphone and tablet, go for it. But if an alien race swooped down on the planet and forced earthlings to use only a single computer, I’d choose the iPhone 6 Plus. If you’re looking for one machine for everything, a phablet like this isn’t a bad way to go.

我並不是非常喜歡這種生活方式；如果你有資源和耐心，還是可以筆記本電腦、智能手機和平板電腦各買一部。但是，假設某個外星種族入侵地球，迫使地球人只能使用一臺計算機，那我就會選擇iPhone 6 Plus。如果你正在尋找一臺萬用機器，選擇這樣的平板手機也不錯。

Apple doesn’t use the P-word, but the 6 Plus, which goes on sale on Friday, is larger than the original Samsung Galaxy Note, the device that came out in 2011 and is generally credited as being the first phablet. (The latest Note has a 5.7-inch screen.) It’s obvious why Apple had to make a phablet, a device that its executives and fans had long made fun of. Despite the awkwardness of holding a device as large as a cafeteria tray up to your ear, phablets made by Samsung and other companies have become a huge global hit. Phablets are already more popular than laptops and desktops, and they’ll almost certainly begin outselling tablet computers soon, too.

蘋果沒有使用平板手機這樣的字眼，但週五上市發售的6 Plus，比三星2011年推出的首款Galaxy Note更大，後者通常被視爲全球第一款平板手機。（最新款Note的屏幕爲5.7英寸。）雖然蘋果的高管和粉絲長期都在說平板手機的笑話，但該公司還是不得不推出一款平板手機，其原因顯而易見。儘管用這種設備接聽電話有點尷尬，好像把自助餐托盤貼在耳朵上一樣，三星等公司推出的平板手機已在全球掀起了熱賣狂潮。平板手機的人氣已經變得比筆記本電腦和臺式機更旺，其銷量幾乎肯定很快就會開始超越平板電腦。

Their popularity might reflect the unimportance of the phone part of the phablet: Who makes phone calls anymore? Instead, some market-watchers argue, a significant number of the world’s population either can’t afford or can’t manage a tech future in which we all own three devices — a PC, a tablet and a phone. Lots of people want a single machine that can fulfill most of their computing needs.

這樣的人氣可能反映了平板手機的手機部分並不重要：如今誰還打電話呢？而一些市場觀察家則認爲，對於“每人都有個人電腦、平板電腦和手機這三大件”的科技前景，全球有大量用戶要麼買不起，要麼無力應付。很多人希望只需一臺機器，就可以滿足他們的大部分計算需求。

On the other hand, a phablet presents many trade-offs. Depending on the job you have, there’s a good chance it isn’t nearly as comfortable for sustained work as your PC. As I wrote in my review of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 earlier this year, many of the tasks we call “work” usually require a great physical keyboard, and obviously the iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t have that built in.

另一方面，平板手機也意味着你要進行很多權衡取捨。這取決於你的工作性質，如果是長時間工作，很有可能用平板手機遠遠無法像用電腦一樣舒適。正如今年早些時候，我評測微軟Surface Pro 3時所寫的，我們稱之爲“工作”的很多任務，通常都需要用到一個出色的物理鍵盤，而iPhone 6 Plus顯然沒有自帶鍵盤。

What’s more, though it’s quite thin, the 6 Plus is about 27 percent taller and 32 percent wider than Apple’s old flagship, the iPhone 5S. That makes it something of a monster in your pocket. There were times this week when I reached for my old iPhone 5S and fell in love again with that device’s seductively compact design. (Apple also introduced a new small phone, the iPhone 6, with a 4.7-inch screen; my colleague Molly Wood reviewed both iPhones earlier this week.)

更重要的是，儘管6 Plus相當薄，但卻比蘋果上一代旗艦手機iPhone 5S長約27%，寬約32%，因此把它放在口袋裏會顯得很突兀。本週，我用了幾次我的老iPhone 5S，又重新愛上了它那誘人的緊湊設計。（蘋果公司還推出了一款新的小型手機iPhone 6，屏幕爲4.7英寸，我的同事莫莉·伍德[Molly Wood]本週早些時候評測了這兩款新iPhone。）

Yet what it lacks in pocketability, the iPhone 6 Plus makes up for in usability and accessibility. Your phablet, like your phone, is a machine you always have with you, but like a tablet, it has a screen big enough to let you accomplish many more productive tasks. And unlike a laptop, it’s instantly available. Pull it out of your pocket and begin working anywhere.

雖然不適合裝在口袋裏，但iPhone 6 Plus的可用性和觸手可及的特質彌補了這個不足。平板手機像是手機，總是可以隨身攜帶；也像是平板電腦，有一個足夠大的顯示屏，讓你完成更多的效率型工作。但不同於筆記本電腦，平板手機馬上就可以使用。把它從口袋裏拿出來，你就可以隨時隨時地工作。

Over the last week I used the 6 Plus to do just about everything I normally do with my phone and my laptop. Every morning I’d wake up, then slump into my phablet-friendly office, also known as my bed, couch or some other recline-friendly bit of furniture I could find. There I’d stare and tap at my screen all day long. This was sort of bizarre; my house is full of computers, and at least early in my experiment, I often had to restrain myself from grabbing a laptop to get stuff done.

上週期間我用6 Plus做了幾乎所有通常在手機和筆記本電腦上乾的事情。每天早上醒來，我都會窩到適宜用平板手機的辦公場所，也就是我家的牀、沙發，或者是其他什麼適合隨便一靠的傢俱上。接下來，我就會整天盯着屏幕，在上面按來按去。真是有點詭異啊；我們家到處是電腦，而且至少是在進行這項實驗的開始階段，我往往要努力控制去拿筆記本搞定事情的衝動。

But I persevered, and soon I found myself falling into the habits of a phablet-only life. I caught up with email, researched my articles, read lots and lots of stuff on the web, worked with a few spreadsheets and, with the help of an add-on physical keyboard, even tried to write some of my articles on the 6 Plus.

不過我挺住了，不久就發現自己染上了只靠平板手機過活的習慣。我拿它查電子郵件、爲文章做研究、在網上瀏覽很多很多的東西、在幾張表格上工作了一下，甚至還藉助外接物理鍵盤，在6 Plus上寫了幾篇文章。

I found that the 6 Plus has two advantages over smaller smartphones, and one primary advantage over rival phablets. Typing is much easier on the 6 Plus compared to small phones. When you hold the 6 Plus with two hands in portrait mode — that is, vertically — and type with your thumbs, there’s a perfect fit.

我發現，6 Plus相對較小的智能手機有兩大優勢，相對競爭對手的平板手機有一大長處。與小手機相比，在6 Plus上打字要容易多了。雙手握住豎着的手機，用兩個拇指打字的時候，簡直完美契合。

Using the iPhone’s built-in on-screen keyboard or an on-screen keyboard made by Swype, I found myself jotting emails much more quickly than I have on traditional smartphones. Unfortunately, in landscape mode — holding the phone horizontally — the effect was ruined; as Molly also found, the 6 Plus is much too wide to type on comfortably.

用iPhone自帶的或Swype屏幕鍵盤，我發現自己敲電子郵件的速度要比傳統智能手機快了不少。不幸的是，握住橫着的手機時，這種完美效果全毀了。我和莫莉的感覺一樣，6 Plus太寬了，橫着打字很不舒服。

The other obvious advantage over smaller phones is screen size. The 6 Plus’s display is big enough to transform activities that are a bit unpleasant on small smartphones into tasks that are nearly comfortable to perform on a phone. These tasks range from watching movies to reading documents to scrolling through spreadsheets to sorting through email — anything where the display counts, and where you’re eager to save your eyes.

它與小手機相比的另一項明顯優勢是顯示屏尺寸。6 Plus的屏幕大小，足以將那些在小智能手機上有點令人不爽的體驗變得幾乎挺舒服的，比如看電影、閱讀文件、翻看錶格以及查看電子郵件，諸如此類與顯示屏有關、你又想節省眼力的事情。

The 6 Plus’s advantage over other phablets is also pretty obvious: It runs Apple’s iOS, an operating system that is still far more intuitive and user-friendly than the interfaces that rivals like Samsung have built into their phones.

6 Plus相對其他平板手機的長處也很明顯：它運行蘋果的iOS。三星等競爭對手的手機中內置系統的界面，在直觀性和用戶友好度方面，仍難望iOS之項背。

It’s true, as Molly notes, that unlike Apple, Android phonemakers have added many extra software features to take advantage of phablets’ larger displays, including the ability to run two apps on a screen at once. But I’ve found many such features gimmicky; it’s not often that I need to watch a video and sort through email at the same time.

正如莫莉指出的，誠然，與蘋果不一樣的是，Android手機生產商已經推出了許多可以對平板手機的大屏幕加以利用的額外的軟件功能，比如在一個屏幕上同時運行兩個應用。不過我覺得，很多這類功能就是個噱頭；需要同時觀看視頻又翻查電子郵件的時候，還真沒那麼多。

What’s more important is iOS’s fundamental usability advantage over rivals. Apple’s operating system is easier to understand and easier to get around than Android, and app developers still devote most of their resources to creating the best apps for iOS first.

更重要的是，iOS在易用性上對競爭者的根本優勢。比起Android，蘋果的操作系統更易於理解，也更易於上手。此外，應用開發人員還是會把大部分資源用於優先寫出最佳iOS應用。

One oft-mentioned risk of the 6 Plus, for Apple, is that the big phone will displace sales of Apple’s tablets. But the Plus could actually be a blessing. Apple sells the 6 Plus to carriers for prices starting at $750; the high-definition iPad Mini starts at $399.

在6 Plus的風險方面，常常被提到的是，對蘋果公司而言，大手機會替代iPad的銷售市場。其實，6 Plus可能反倒是件好事。蘋果賣給運營商的6 Plus的起步價爲750美元（約合4600元人民幣），而高清iPad Mini的起步價爲399美元。

But to customers who sign up for a cellular contract, the 6 Plus appears cheaper than the iPad — it’s just $299. In other words, if you choose a big iPhone over an iPad, Apple will be selling you a more expensive device at price that looks cheaper to you. So that’s the other big thing about phablets: They can make money for tech companies.

不過，帶合約的6 Plus只要299美元，在客戶看來會比iPad便宜。換句話說，如果選了大屏iPhone而不是iPad，你就會用顯得更便宜的價格從蘋果那裏買到一部價值更昂貴的設備。這樣一來，平板手機又有了一大優點：可以爲科技公司賺錢哪！