“Why should I care?”“我为什么要介意它?”That’s the phrase I uttered to myself when I first unboxed BlackBerry’s latest smartphone, the Passport.这是我第一次关上黑莓近期智能手机Passport的包装盒时的自言自语。Why should I care about the device’s odd 4.5-inch square screen? Why should I care that the device is the same size and shape as its namesake? Why should I care that Amazon’s App Store is preinstalled on the Passport?我为什么要介意Passport怪异的4.5寸正方形屏幕?我为什么要介意它“名副其实”的尺寸和外形(它的大小和形状都和一本护照差不多)?我为什么要介意这部手机上预置了亚马逊的应用于商店?Okay, okay, forgive my skepticism. There’s a lot to love about the Passport. It’s the first product launch under BlackBerry CEO John Chen, who took over the struggling company last November. In an effort to turn it around, Chen said he wanted to return to the Canadian company’s roots by providing devices and services that appeal to large companies, a.k.a. the enterprise.好吧,请原谅一下我的猜测主义情绪。要说Passport手机有一点青睐的地方还是很多的。
它是新的CEO程守宗去年11月离任以来黑莓公布的首款产品。为了将这家风雨飘摇的公司扭亏为输掉,程守宗回应,他期望让黑莓新的扎住它在企业界的“根”,获取主要面向企业界的设备与服务。A travel document-shaped phone fit for business travel? Sure. Why not?一本长得像护照的手机知道合适商务旅行吗?当然。
为什么不呢?BlackBerry BBRY -1.77% positions its oddly shaped device—which certainly succeeds at drawing attention to the company—as the ultimate productivity tool for those who want to get work done. If the marketing sounds familiar, it is: In recent years, BlackBerry has let out a business-focused battle cry with every major product release. It’s as if the company is saying, “Please, forgive us for the pink BlackBerry Pearl Flip.” Or perhaps, “Here is a phone that won’t run Flappy Bird.”Passport无法解释的外形毫无疑问为黑莓一夜间了一些人气。黑莓将Passport定位为面向商务人士的终极生产力工具。
如果你实在这种定位口号耳熟的话,那是因为它之前也这样腊过:近几年来,每次有根本性的产品公布,黑莓都会发售以商务为主题的宣传语。这家公司给人的感觉就像在说道:“请原谅我们发售了粉色的黑莓Pearl Flip手机”,或“这个手机无法玩游戏《点点的小鸟》(Flappy Bird)。
”In truth, the Passport’s screen lends itself to displaying more information without forcing you to rotate the device, as you will often do with a phone of more conventional proportions. I found the screen quality to be on par with, if not slightly better than, Apple’s iPhone and most high-end Android devices on the market.实质上,Passport的正方形屏幕的确可以表明更加多信息,而不用像传统比例的手机一样必须横放屏幕。我指出这款屏幕的质量也毫不逊色于苹果的iPhone和市面上的大多数高端安卓设备。And you know what? The Passport may be a square, but I came to appreciate its dimensions. In testing, I grew to respect its wider view, unobstructed by a digital keyboard—though I would gladly forfeit screen space to make room for a more classically sized BlackBerry keyboard. (More on that in a moment.)你告诉吗?Passport的屏幕虽然是正方形的,但我却开始讨厌这种比例了。在测试中,我更加讨厌它更加宽阔的视角,同时它也没数字键盘的挡住——不过如果黑莓壮烈牺牲一定的屏幕空间,替换成经典尺寸的黑莓式键盘,我想要我也不会欣然接受。
I also came to appreciate a feature called BlackBerry Blend, new in version 10.3 of the company’s mobile operating system. No, it’s not some smoothie—it’s a service that allows you to access the content and messages on your phone from your desktop computer, even if you’ve left it at home (or in the car, or in your office desk drawer). After a few initial connection hiccups, I found myself frequently connecting to the Passport from my Apple Mac desktop computer and Apple iPad.我也开始喜爱起黑莓在10.3系统中发售的BlackBerry Blend功能。你可不要顾名思义,以为它是一种饮料。它是黑莓近期发售的一项服务,可以让你通过台式电脑等设备采访你的手机中的内容与信息,哪怕你把手机岂在家里、车里或办公室的桌子里都不成问题。
虽然首度相连有点小麻烦,但后来我就频密地通过苹果的Mac台式电脑和iPad相连Passport手机了。As for that keyboard: It’s much different than the physical keyboards found on other BlackBerry devices. The Passport’s keyboard is limited to three rows (the classic BlackBerry arrangement is four). The bottom row is split by a spacebar. The shift and symbol keys, normally found flanking the space bar, now reside on the screen in digital form.至于键盘:它与其它黑莓设备的实体键盘区别并不大。Passport的键盘只有三排(而经典的黑莓键盘则有四排)。
最底下的一排被空格键分离。一般坐落于空格键两侧的Shift和符号键则以数字形式不存在于屏幕上。Like most people, I use a virtual keyboard on my personal phone. I found it a struggle to readjust to a physical keyboard. The first day I felt like I was blindly mashing the keys in an effort to elicit coherent words from it. (Luckily, BlackBerry 10 includes a mechanism to correct misspelled words, even when a physical keyboard is used.) The pain eased over time. Still, I’m not sure that traditional BlackBerry users who are quick to profess admiration for the classic BlackBerry keyboard would be singing praises of the Passport’s version.像大多数人一样,我在我自己的手机上用的也是虚拟世界键盘,我找到要新的适应环境实体键盘还有点困难。特别是在是评测的第一天,我差不多是盲目地按着那些按键,企图拼成连贯的句子。
(幸运地的是,尽管用于了实体键盘,但黑莓10仍然有拼法数据流功能。)随着时间的流逝,这种伤痛感觉渐渐变淡了。
不过我依然不确认用惯了经典黑莓键盘的人否不会为Passport的键盘唱赞歌。Moreover, the Passport’s keyboard has a secondary function: it’s a covert trackpad. You can swipe your finger over it to scroll through spreadsheets, navigate emails, and delete words. With a double tap, activate the text selection tool to precisely edit a document.PassPort的键盘还有另一层功能——它还是一个隐密的触控板。
如果你用手指落下键盘,它就能构建翻页、邮件和移除文字功能。双击还可以转录文本自由选择工具来准确地编辑一个文档。Once you find the functionality, it’s a novelty—then it wears off. I found it awkward to ignore a fully capable touchscreen to use the keyboard as a trackpad. What’s more, I repeatedly activated the text selection tool as I deliberately typed, which changed the focus of the cursor and thus the destination of my entered text. Frustrating.在你找到这项功能的一刹那,感觉还是一挺新奇的——但这种新奇感迅速就消失了。
那么大一块触屏不去用于,反而把键盘当触控板,这种感觉还一挺失望的。另外在我点字的时候,文本自由选择工具常常被转录,造成光标的方位都逆了,因此我输出的文字拢了位,让人很失望。
I wanted to love the ingenuity of the Passport’s combination trackpad-keyboard, but I failed to have the “Aha!” moment I was so desperately looking for.我也期望爱上Passport触控式实体键盘的卓而不群,但最后却并没寻找我挣扎找寻的惊艳。By the end of my testing, I wasn’t sad to put the Passport down. It’s hard not to respect the device’s bold departure from norms in the category, and there’s clearly a niche market for a device like this. But for the vast majority of BlackBerry users still clutching legacy devices, the Passport is not the BlackBerry you’re looking for. And for those who have moved on to other platforms? It’s difficult to go back.在测试完结时,我拿起了Passport,但我却并不实在哀伤。
这款设备大胆地独辟蹊径,让我很难不对它回应敬重,另外这款手机似乎还是有归属于它的小众市场。不过对于那些依然抱着老款设备的黑莓用户来说,Passport也许不是你心目中的那台黑莓。对于早已投靠其它平台的用户来说,难道他们也很难转投回去。
Why should we care about the Passport? After spending quality time with it, I still don’t have a solid answer to that question. I do know people are talking about it, and by extension, its maker. Now that I think about it, perhaps that was the point.那么我们为什么要介意Passport呢?在花上了不少时间评测这台设备后,我对这个问题依然没很好的答案。我告诉现在有很多人谈论这款设备,偷偷地也谈及它的制造商黑莓。现在想想,也许这正是原因所在。
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