【经济学人】看未来手机！丨2017年3月2日丨总第829期

“A SEA of sameness.” A veteran of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a consultancy, was not expecting much from the mobile industry’s main trade show this week in Barcelona. As one product launch followed another, it was easy to lose track. Whether it was LG, Huawei or Wiko, they all showed off yet more black rectangles with slightly varying specifications.

来英国著名移动资讯公司CCS Insight的调研主管Ben Wood是全球移动大会的常客，他本人对这周在巴塞罗那举办的移动产业贸易展览会没有过多期待，并称其为“波澜不惊的汪洋大海”。随着一次又一次的产品发布会，人们很难对其留下什么深刻印象。无论是LG，还是华为或者Wiko，然而这些手机制造商全都在炫耀只有细微不同说明的手机产品。

Another reminder of the smartphone business’s maturity was that the most talked-about new device was the Nokia 3310 feature phone (pictured), an updated version of a phone first made 17 years ago.（读者试译句）With limited internet connectivity, it appeals partly as a “digital detox”, said Arto Nummela, chief executive of HMD Global, a Finnish startup with ex-Nokia executives which licenses the brand.

“期待您的翻译，将您的理解留言在文章下方留言处，第二天将会有长难句解析。”智能手机产业的另一个成熟标志就是，本次大会上最为人津津乐道的新款手机是诺基亚的3310型，这是17年前所发布同款手机的全新升级版。来自一家由几位诺基亚前董事创立的芬兰公司HMD Global的执行总裁Arto Nummela表示，由于这款手机本身网络受限，它的出现被看做是“数码排毒”的一种手段。

• digital detox：指一个人远离智能手机和电脑等电子设备的一段时间，以借此机会为自己减压或将关注点转移到真实世界的社交活动中，我们称之为“数字戒毒期”。

The mobile industry is far from done in terms of genuinely new products. But the action has moved to parts of the business that do not lend themselves to splashy events and massive crowds (the tent erected by Huawei, a Chinese maker of all sorts of telecoms gear, to launch its new P10 smartphone was huge, but hundreds were still left waiting outside). Most innovation in the next ten years will happen in the telecoms network rather than in devices, predicts John Delaney of IDC, a market-research firm.

就最新的产品来看，移动产业远远没有达到顶峰。但是，这次活动带来的部分业务并没有引起到人们过多关注。（中国电子零件制造商华为公司为了发布最新的P10智能手机搭建起来的展台，其影响力是巨大的，但是还剩下数以百计的展商没有得到关注。）来自市场研究公司IDC的John Delaney预计，在接下来十年内，大部分创新将出现在电信网络中，而不是移动设备上。

For now the industry is gearing up for the next generation of wireless technology, “5G”. In time for MWC the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, agreed on the specifications for 5G: speeds must be up to 20 gigabits per second, enough to download a movie in a few blinks of an eye. At the show, makers of networking gear, such as Samsung, announced products for the first 5G networks. These are expected to launch in 2018, mostly in South Korea and in Japan, where the new wireless technology is expected to be shown off during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

迄今为止，整个行业都在为了下一代无线技术“5G”而加速前进。世界移动通信大会结束后，来自英国的国际电信联盟认同了对5G的解释：速度必须达到每秒20千兆，足以让人们眨眼间就下好一部电影。展示会上，诸如三星的网络零件制造商宣布了首款5G网络的产品。这些产品预计在2018年正式发布于韩国和日本，此举是为了在2020年东京奥运上期间炫耀最新的无线电技术。

Much still needs to be invented to make 5G a reality. Mobile carriers will, for instance, have to rejig their networks to make them more like a “computing cloud”. The idea is that network operators, just like providers of computing power, should be able to cook up new telecoms services within seconds. One technique is called “slicing”, meaning phone networks can be divided up to serve different purposes, such as providing superfast connectivity for self-driving cars or reliably hooking up connected devices as part of the Internet of Things.

为了让5G成为现实，仍然需要大量的投资。例如，手机运营商不得不重整网路使其更为贴近“云计算”。其基本理念就是，网络运营商就像计算能力的提供者一样，应该能够在几秒钟之内编纂好新的网络服务。其中一个技术叫做“slicing”，这表明手机网络能够被分成几种不同的目的，比如说，为自动驾驶的汽车提供超快的网络连接，或者是确实地使可连接设备连上网络。

• Rejig：vt.       重新装备;

Mobile innovation is not doomed to be hidden in the network. But you will have to look more closely to spot it. In Barcelona fingerprint readers appeared in smartphones costing less than $100. If these move to even cheaper devices, it would be a boon to people in developing countries who could easily authenticate themselves online. Another development was that 360-degree cameras are becoming smaller and cheaper. The matchbox-sized Giroptic iO, which attaches to a smartphone, costs $260. Expect another dimension of selfies, which some already call “surroundies”, and, inevitably, new sorts of selfie sticks.

移动端的创新并非注定要隐藏于网络之下。但是，你不得不得去细心查看才能分辨出来。在巴塞罗那，智能手机的指纹识别系统的造价低于100美金。如果这些创新运用在更便宜的设备上，这将会造福发展中国家的人们，从而帮助他们快捷地进行在线验证。另一个发展就是全景摄像头正在变得更小更便宜。Giroptic公司出品用来连接智能手机的IO摄像头和火柴盒一般大小，且售价为260美元。令人期待的是，其中包括一些已被称为“surroundies”的自拍镜头，当然还有各种各样的自拍杆。

• Authenticate :vt.    证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的; 鉴定，使生效;

翻译 ▍arias

审核 ▍竞风之翼

编辑 ▍张哼哼