m******e
发帖数: 536 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 PDA 讨论区 】
发信人: meditate (meditate), 信区: PDA
标 题: 靠1+1上纽约时报了，比较正面的科技版专栏文章，小牛啊。
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Oct 8 23:09:08 2014, 美东)
靠1+1上上今天纽约时报了，还是比较正面的科技版专栏文章，小牛啊。
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/technology/personaltech/onepl
Personal Tech
Low Price, High Hopes for OnePlus Phone
OCT. 8, 2014
Photo
The One from OnePlus, a Chinese company, runs CyanogenMod, a version of
Google’s Android operating system that is flexible and easy to use. Credit
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Farhad Manjoo
STATE OF THE ART
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For years, the tech industry has been waiting on a unicorn device: a great,
low-priced smartphone.
While most other technologies keep getting cheaper, many of today’s high-
end smartphones cost upward of $650, which is more than the price Apple
slapped on its very first iPhone, way back in 2007.
That price is usually hidden inside a carrier plan; you generally pay only $
200 or so when you sign up for the phone, and then pay the rest over the
course of your contract. Still, the full price is nothing to sneeze at. If
you keep your new iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S5 for two years, you are
looking at a minimum of $27 a month just for the device. Top-tier
smartphones cost more than most laptops and desktops, more than a lot of TVs
and home appliances, and more than the fanciest dinner for two in New York
(probably).
Isn’t it time high-end smartphones were cheaper? Are they worth all that
much money? Is there any way around the sticker price?
Well, a unicorn just galloped onto the horizon. This month, OnePlus, a start
-up based in Shenzhen, China, will begin taking pre-orders for the One, a
fantastic low-price phone that tech enthusiasts across the globe have been
lusting after for months. (Until the pre-order system goes live, the only
way to get a One is by snagging a coveted invitation.)
Photo
Credit Stuart Goldenberg
I’ve been using the One for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve found it to
be one of the best smartphones I’ve ever used. The One has a beautifully
spare design, it’s loaded with the latest tech specs, and it runs
CyanogenMod, a version of Google’s Android operating system that is far
more flexible and easier to use than the cumbersome flavors of Android now
stuffed into rival phones.
Best of all, the One sells for $299. That’s not $299 with a carrier plan or
some other commitment. That’s $299 total, or less than half the price of a
top-tier phone from Apple, Samsung or HTC. After you pay that price, you
own the phone. If you take it to a carrier like T-Mobile, which offers a
discount on your cellular plan if you bring your own phone, you can end up
saving a substantial bit of cash in the long run.
And yet, the One is not going to work for most people — yet. That’s
because it comes with many caveats and warnings. Among them: You will have a
devilishly difficult time getting customer service for your phone,
including getting it repaired if something goes wrong.
Still, the company may be on to something. If OnePlus can navigate the
perils of the cutthroat smartphone business, it may be giving us a peek of
the glorious future of great, cheap phones.
Photo
Pete Lau, left, founder of OnePlus, with Carl Pei, who heads the company’s
global division. Credit Johanne Chow
OnePlus was founded late in 2013 by Pete Lau, a veteran of the Chinese tech
business who was taken with the idea of creating a high-end smartphone for
the masses. His vision was not unique; as the price of the components in
smartphones plummeted over the last few years, a rash of Chinese start-ups
emerged to make high-quality, low-price phones.
These devices are radically shifting the mobile industry in China and other
parts of the developing world. This summer, Xiaomi, another start-up that
sells its low-price phones in China, surpassed Samsung as that country’s
top smartphone vendor, according to the research company Canalys. Samsung’s
profits are being battered by the intense competition from low-priced
rivals.
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But OnePlus is unusual among Chinese phone makers in that it believes its
market extends far beyond its home country. Early on, Mr. Lau divided the
company into two semiautonomous units, one catering to Chinese consumers and
the other devoted to the international market.
Carl Pei, who directs the global division, said that of OnePlus’s global
staff, a third of the employees are from Asia, a third from Europe and a
third from the United States. “We don’t really think of ourselves as a
Chinese start-up,” he said.
Photo
The One, which is heavier than the new iPhone 6 (5.7 ounces versus 4.6
ounces), utilizes Gorilla Glass, which helps increase the toughness of its 5
.5-inch screen. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
After winning a few glowing reviews this year in the American and European
tech press, the One became a sensation among techies far beyond China. “
Very soon our sales outside of China will surpass sales in China,” Mr. Pei
said during a recent interview.
While he would not provide exact sales numbers, Mr. Pei said the One was
selling in the “mid-to-high four figures a day in the U.S.,” which he said
constituted 30 percent of the company’s market. That would imply sales of
150,000 to 300,000 phones a month in the United States, and up to a million
devices a month over all — a rounding error in the global smartphone
business, but an admirable feat for a tiny, year-old start-up.
It’s not surprising that people are clamoring for the One. It is just about
the fastest Android phone you can buy, and its 5.5-inch screen is stunning.
My only complaint with the device has to do with the camera, whose pictures
cannot match the sharpness and color accuracy of some of its rivals.
Otherwise, the One is better than most other Android phones on the market,
including Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and HTC’s flagship phone, which is also
called the One. (Yes, there are now two Ones.) I give the OnePlus One the
edge primarily for its user interface, which is cleanly minimal, uncluttered
with all the pointless gimmicks and unnecessary apps found in many rival
Android devices. In that way, the One is similar to Google’s Nexus 5,
another high-quality, low-price phone — but over all, the One is more
powerful, and far prettier, than the Nexus.
Photo
The One has a 13 megapixel camera that features Sony technology. Credit Jim
Wilson/The New York Times
The problem with the One, though, is that OnePlus’s future is far from
assured — and that future matters to the longevity of your phone. “To be
perfectly honest, we’re not sure about our business model,” Mr. Pei said,
noting that at the moment, the company does not make much of a profit on
each phone it sells.
He added that in the future, the company might begin to make money by
teaming up with software companies that would preinstall apps on the phone,
or by expanding the range of accessories for its device.
Even in the absence of a business model, the company is planning rapid
expansion. It is hiring customer service experts to better handle problems,
and it plans to hire local teams in some of its markets to provide faster
service. It’s possible that by selling a great phone at a great price,
OnePlus could stumble into profits, and become the next big global
smartphone brand.
But betting on OnePlus’s survival is a $300 gamble. Jan Dawson, an
independent analyst, points out that by comparison, the established
smartphone market does not ask customers to make such a leap. The major
carriers now offer zero-down, interest-free financing plans for high-end
phones, meaning that customers can get a $650 phone for $30 monthly
installments.
“Even though the iPhone may be significantly more expensive, today you’re
going to be paying only a tenth of what you’d pay to get the OnePlus phone
upfront,” Mr. Dawson said. If your iPhone breaks, you can always go back to
the store to get it fixed. And if you want to get rid of it, there will
always be a large, willing market to take it off your hands. Isn’t that
certainty worth the extra coin?
For many users, that will be true; the $650 smartphone isn’t going away
tomorrow. But the One ought to give established players pause. Great, cheap
phones aren’t just for China. Soon they’ll be everywhere, and eventually,
one could be right for you. | d****n
发帖数: 10034 | 2 美犹和共济会的阴谋
【在 m******e 的大作中提到】
: 【 以下文字转载自 PDA 讨论区 】
: 发信人: meditate (meditate), 信区: PDA
: 标 题: 靠1+1上纽约时报了，比较正面的科技版专栏文章，小牛啊。
: 发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Oct 8 23:09:08 2014, 美东)
: 靠1+1上上今天纽约时报了，还是比较正面的科技版专栏文章，小牛啊。
: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/technology/personaltech/onepl
: Personal Tech
: Low Price, High Hopes for OnePlus Phone
: OCT. 8, 2014
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