三星对决LG 柔性智能手机之争

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，大家都在等待这款手机——或许是。LG电子推出了其自称的全球第一款柔性手机，该手机可弯曲，也可放在桌面上压平。

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.

这非常吸引人，但LG和另一家柔性手机领域的先锋企业三星在花更多心思让它们能进一步弯曲之前，将谨慎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电子发布了它称之为全球首款柔性智能手机的最新产品——G Flex，该6英寸屏手机可轻微弯曲，将在韩国销售，上架时间为10天，售价高达940美元。一位发言人表示，如果LG在2014年初在美国发售这款手机，合约机价格会与其他高端智能机相当。在香港的发售时间为12月13日，在法国会由法国电信公司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的代表周三拜访了福布斯位于旧金山的办公室，对G Flex进行了一番演示，并展示了它的柔性特色。

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.

实际上，这里的“柔性”具有主观性。把弯起的手机面朝下放在水平表面上，你就能把它压平。用你的手指握住手机的两端向内弯折，手机会在一定程度上弯曲。当我问到这款设备是否能在另一个方向弯曲时，LG发言人查斯·阿博特（Chaz Abbott）用了点力气，让手机更弯了一点。

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争着要做第一个推出曲面手机的公司。2012年时曾有传言称，此类手机将早于现在这个时间上架，而为何花了这么久才最终推出，存在多种原因。首先，高管们需要确信，这类设备实际上将能够销售。LG的首席技术官安承权（Skott Ahn）今年早些时候曾告诉我，很难说消费者是否会想要一款曲面手机，更不要提柔性手机了。

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，曲面手机能很好地贴合面部线条，你的嘴离通话麦克风更近，这样你的声音听起来会更清晰，而且曲面显示屏可略微提升在手机上观看视频的体验。此外，在掉落或磕碰的情况下，手机的柔韧性可让G Flex更耐用。然而，销售是否能弥补LG在制造工艺上付出的努力——是艰巨的努力——仍然没有定论。

“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.

“准备好制造工具就花了一段时间。”阿博特说，他补充说，LG不得不购买并制造自己的机器设备，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

另一个挑战就是制造出能一再被弯折的显示屏。G Flex采用塑料OLED显示屏，上面覆盖薄薄的一层由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）表示，像LG这样的显示屏生产商花了多年时间，才打造出最初的一款足够密封、不会轻易让气体和水汽透过屏幕的塑料OLED层。通用显示器公司与三星和LG联合开发柔性屏幕。另一个挑战是要确保塑料OLED显示屏能够经受住加工叠加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为横向弯曲，且弯曲弧度固定，在向柔性设备的逐渐演化中迈出了较早的一步。“我们将整个研发柔性屏的过程看成这样一个过程：先学习爬、然后学会走、然后学会跑马拉松。”通用显示器公司的马翁表示，“市场上第一批柔性显示屏将采用固定弧度，不能自由弯曲，在智能手机中使用。”这种显示屏具有更出色的硬件规格和人体工程学设计。“这些是第一阶段就能实现的好处。”她说。最终，该技术将更为可靠稳健，制造商可采取小步走的方式，生产出某种更先进的产品，比如在一支笔上，屏幕可以展开（参见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.

马翁相信，再过三至五年，类似这种概念钢笔的某样东西就会出现。事实上，最近由三星提交的一份专利申请就是一款与之非常类似、像钢笔一样的设备，上面有一块可以拉出的柔性显示屏。马翁说，研究人员目前正在研究柔性显示屏在钢笔、可穿戴技术甚至织物上的使用案例。

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的发布会上表示，他看到智能手机正向“曲面、可弯曲、可折叠、可穿戴”设备的方向发展，但他未详细说明LG柔性设备技术会如何进一步发展。

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.

可能LG会推出一款较小型的可弯曲智能手机？“工程师们认为，6英寸显示屏对这类可弯曲手机来说是最合适的。”阿博特回答道。

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的目标是早期采用者和喜欢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起来会更加轻松。”他补充说。证据就是销量，这可能是LG为何采取观望态度，没有对G Flex未来的发展方向做太多说明的原因。