史上5款最烂的手机设计
日期:2010-07-28 15:19

(单词翻译:单击)

Four short weeks since it crashed Apple and AT&T's servers, the iPhone 4 has broken records, surpassed analyst expectations and invoked the kind of ire and controversy usually reserved for political elections. Just as quickly, Apple's once-sterling reputation for cutting-edge design became a potential liability.
But as critics and users fussed over "antennagate," beating their chests over fickle steel-band antennae, many of us were quick to forget that where cell phone flaws are concerned, there are, quite frankly, worse things out there. Way worse, in fact. Over the years, manufacturers have released phones so irrefutably flawed, so haphazardly designed, that Apple's latest smart phone entry appears downright ideal.

虽然iPhone4的天线问题已经被批得体无完肤,但下文的这5款手机仍然验证了一个道理:好的手机设计是不可多得的。

短短4周,苹果和AT&T'的服务器就被疯狂的苹果粉丝弄瘫痪了,iPhone的热销大大超出分析家们的预料,也引起了争议。很快,苹果的声誉就因天线问题而垂直下降。

但当批评人士和使用者们对“天线门”唠唠叨叨,捶胸顿足的没完时,我们其实忘记了对于手机设计,到底应该关注那些地方。坦率地说,还有更糟的呢。多年来,制造商已经发布了很多有致命缺陷、随意设计的手机。苹果最新的这款智能手机设计显得过于理想化了。

Here are five of the most egregious offenders.

下面是最烂的5快款手机设计。



Nokia N-Gage

诺基亚 N-Gage

In 2003, Nokia (NOKBF) launched the N-Gage, a hybrid device that tried to bridge the gap between mobile entertainment and communication by being both pocket-sized gaming device and cell phone. Unfortunately for Nokia, the N-Gage wasn't particularly good at being either. Though it featured graphics comparable to Nintendo's successful Game Boy Advance, it was hampered by high pricing, a poor selection of games at launch and a 20-plus button layout that proved confusing and uncomfortable for gaming. As for cell usage, some outlets -- Fortune, included -- compared making phone calls on it to holding a taco to your ear.

2003年,诺基亚推出的N - Gage。这款多功能手机将普通通话手机和掌上游戏机结合在一起。虽然它的游戏功能相当接近任天堂的Game Boy,但价格高昂,支持游戏有限和令人迷茫的20个额外按钮使得销售受阻。至于通话方面,把手机放在耳边就像拿着一块玉米卷一样。



Samsung Bang & Olufsen Serenata

三星 Bang & Olufsen Serenata

This lovechild of Samsung and Bang & Olufsen sold for $2,000 in 2007 and sported a slick-looking design that defied logic. The Serenata chucked the conventional QWERTY keyboard, software keypad, and numerical key concepts entirely in lieu of an iPod-like wheel you rotated to dial numbers, text message, and navigate the user interface, effectively kicking users back to the days of the rotary dial.

三星和Bang&Olufsen推出的这款手机在2007年售价是2000美元,外表看起来绚丽多姿,其实是相当的缺乏逻辑性设计。Serenata放弃了传统的按键,取而代之的是类似iPod的滑键。你必须用滑键来拨打号码,写短信,返回主界面,这“成功”地让用户回到了旋转拨号式电话的时代。

Also contrary to conventional design, the wheel was positioned above a small 2.24-inch LCD, so inevitably, users' hands covered the screen and partially obstructed view while they 'wheeled' around. And to add insult to injury, the Serenata completely lacked a camera. So while audio fidelity via the integrated speaker may have been top-notch – we'd expect nothing less from the Danish audio company -- there was very little else to recommend the Serenata.

更多的人不满滑键竟然位于2.24英寸的LCD上面,当用手滑动滑键时,不可避免地要挡住屏幕。又没有内置摄像头。所以当我们享受它的音质的时就别奢望丹麦的影音设备商为我们提供更多了。



Vertu Signature Cobra

Vertu 眼镜蛇手机

By far the priciest of the bunch is also unequivocally the most outrageous. In 2006, British luxury handset maker Vertu and French jewelry, watch and perfume-maker Boucheron puts their heads together and emerged with the Signature Cobra, a 190-gram phone whose most prominent (read: garish) feature was a bejeweled cobra -- two diamonds, two emeralds for eyes and 349 rubies -- wound tightly around a handset with an antiquated 1.9-inch 262,000-color TFT screen.

到目前为止,这款最贵的手机也是最无聊的。2006年,英国豪华手机制造商Vertu和法国首饰,手表和香水生产商 Boucheron合作推出这款眼镜蛇手机,其最突出的(最花哨)的特点是在手机两旁的蛇身上镶嵌有439颗重21克拉的红宝石,蛇眼睛则为两颗祖母绿。

Like Samsung and Bang & Olufsen's Serenata, it too lacked any type of digital camera. In the end, only eight Signature Cobra units were created and sold for $310,000, however Vertu followed up with a more "frugal" edition, the Signature Python, priced to move at $115,000 with a limited run of 26 pieces.

和Serenata一样,它也没有摄像头。最后,只有8部签名眼镜蛇以31万美元的单价售出,但Vertu随后又推出了一款节俭版,定价在115,000美元,限量26件。

Siemens Xelibri

西门子 Xelibri

In 2003, Siemens released the Xelibri collection, a series of eight distinct phone designs aimed at the sartorially-conscious technorati. Where many handsets might emphasize utility over aesthetics – or try balancing the two design elements – the Xelibri phones clearly placed style over substance.

2003年,西门子发布了由8部平板手机组成的Xelibri系列。相比外观,大多数手机更注重实用性,或者在两者之间找到一个平衡点。而Xelibri系列手机则把造型放在首位。

Trouble was that sense of style was seriously questionable. Supposedly, several phones in the line were inspired by the Star Trek franchise, and while that influence is self-evident, we doubt Captain Kirk -- or anyone else -- would be caught with one of these.

这造型却成为一件麻烦事。据说,灵感来源于星际迷航。尽管这种影响是不言而喻的,但很难说科克船长或是其他任何人会看中这款手机。

Apparently, contemporary mobile users agreed. During its two-year run, Siemens sold 780,000 Xelibri phones, accounting for less than 2% of the company's overall total mobile device sales during that period, before they were finally discontinued.

显然,用户会同意上述观点。两年的运营时间里,西门子78万部Xelibri手机,占公司那时期所有销售的百分之二还不到。



Nokia X5-01

诺基亚 X5-01

Marketed towards social media-loving teens in the way Microsoft (MSFT) promoted its now-defunct Kin, many of this squared-off slider's features simply don't hold up upon closer inspection. In an age where 4.3-inch cell phone screens are fast becoming the norm, the X5-01's 2.36-inch non-touch screen seems downright quaint. The "gesture recognition" strikes us as pure gimmick: shake the unit, and unread messages pop onscreen. Spin it to jump to a random music track. Any phone that encourages users to do either on a regular basis sounds like trouble. Says Google 24/7 blog editor Seth Weintraub: "It makes the Microsoft Kin look like a beauty pageant winner."

和已经名存实亡的微软Kin一样,这款手机主打的人群是喜欢社交聊天的青年。在一个4.3英寸触摸屏大行其道的时期,X5-01的2.36英寸非触摸屏显得苍白无力。不过粗短的身材并不太符合传统手机的握持方式。7月24号,谷歌官方博客编辑Seth Weintraub说:“这就像微软的Kin一样看起来只是个美丽虚假的胜利者。

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重点单词
  • flawedadj. 有缺陷的;有瑕疵的;有裂纹的
  • logicn. 逻辑,逻辑学,条理性,推理
  • communicationn. 沟通,交流,通讯,传达,通信
  • haphazardlyadv. 偶然地,随意地;杂乱地
  • luxuryn. 奢侈,豪华,奢侈品
  • unequivocally
  • socialadj. 社会的,社交的 n. 社交聚会
  • controversyn. (公开的)争论,争议
  • effectivelyadv. 事实上,有效地
  • trackn. 小路,跑道,踪迹,轨道,乐曲 v. 跟踪,追踪