小蚁运动相机 是否物美价廉

Ten years is a long time in the technology industry. It was 2006 when GoPro released its first digital camera — a waterproof, shockproof device with 32MB of memory for $80.

十年在科技业是一个很长的时间。2006年，GoPro发布了其首款数码相机——防水抗摔、32MB记忆容量，售价80美元。

A decade on, GoPro is publicly listed with sales set to exceed $1.6bn in 2015. Its cameras sell for up to $500 but new competition is pulling the price back.

十年过去了，GoPro已经上市，2015年的销售额将会超过16亿美元。该公司相机最高售价达到500美元，但新的竞争正在压低价格。

Last week, GoPro warned that the past quarter had not been as successful as it had hoped. Its shares fell faster than a base jumper, wiping hundreds of millions of dollars from its valuation.

最近GoPro警告称，上一个季度不像之前期待的那么成功。该公司股价大跌，抹去数亿美元市值。

In 2006, GoPro’s action camera was unique but today it is facing an attack of the clones, led by the $100 Yi Action, above.

2006年，GoPro的运动相机还是独一无二的，但现在它面临以售价100美元的小蚁运动相机(Yi Action)为首的同类产品的竞争。

Shared likeness

共享的相似性

Its manufacturer, Xiaoyi, which makes home security cameras, is a China-based affiliate of local smartphone maker Xiaomi. It uses the tagline “See Different” but its cameras look pretty familiar.

小蚁运动相机的制造商小蚁(Xiaoyi)生产家庭安保摄像头，是中国智能手机制造商小米(Xiaomi)旗下的子公司。小蚁推出了“改变你的拍摄方式”的标语，但它的相机看起来相当眼熟。

Placed side by side, it is not immediately easy to tell the Yi Action camera from the long-running GoPro design. Both are matchbox size with an off-centre fisheye lens and two big control buttons.

如果把它们放在一起，很难一下子分辨出哪个是小蚁，哪个是早就推出的GoPro。两款相机都是火柴盒大小，都有一个偏离机身中心的超广角镜头和两个较大的控制按钮。

The Yi’s waterproof case, an extra $30, even has the same three-ringed screw that fits many GoPro accessories.

小蚁的防水型相机价格还要高30美元，该款相机甚至有三环螺杆，适配许多GoPro配件。

The similarity is more than skin deep. The Yi camera uses a 16 megapixel Sony Exmor R image sensor, similar to those in GoPro’s line-up, and the same Ambarella chipset that is used in GoPro’s cube-shaped Hero4 Session, its latest camera. The Session was priced at $400 but by December that had been slashed to $200.

相似之处并非只有外观。小蚁相机使用了1600万像素的索尼Exmor R影像传感器，与GoPro的配置类似，它还使用了与GoPro最新推出的立方体形状的Hero4 Session上一模一样的安霸(Ambarella)芯片组。Hero4 Session最初售价400美元，但到去年12月已大幅下跌至200美元。

The Yi does make some concessions to cost, including an all-plastic case instead of the metallic plate often found on higher-end GoPros. With the ability to shoot in full 1080p high-definition at a slow-motion-friendly 60 frames a second, however, its specs are at least as good as the $200 GoPro Hero+.

小蚁相机确实节约了一些成本，包括全塑料外壳，而不是较高端的GoPro相机往往采用的金属材质。 然而，小蚁相机能够以1秒60帧的速度拍摄1080P的全高清画面，轻松获得慢动作效果，这样的配置至少和200美元的GoPro Hero+一样好。

The images reflect the high-quality parts. I took a Yi and a GoPro Session on a road trip in snowy US National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Both cameras produced excellent pictures and videos, with the GoPro’s higher resolution noticeable only if you zoom in.

图像反映出相机部件的质量非常高。我带上小蚁和GoPro Session驱车前往美国犹他州和亚利桑那州大雪覆盖的国家公园。两个相机都拍摄出了精美的相片和视频，只有在放大的时候才会注意到GoPro的分辨率更高一些。

Because both lack screens, most controls are done by wireless connection to a smartphone. I found the Yi APP better than GoPro’s, which often struggled to connect to the camera. Neither excelled in low light but both survived the sub-zero temperatures of the Grand Canyon — unlike my iPhone, which lost its charge.

由于两款相机都没有屏幕，大多数控制通过与智能手机的无线连接完成。我发现小蚁的APP比GoPro更好一些，后者往往很难实现与相机的连接。两个相机在低光环境的表现都不怎么样，但在美国大峡谷零度以下的环境下还能使用——这与我的iPhone不一样，它的电池会失去电力。

In short, other than queasy feelings about intellectual property, I see little reason why anyone would pay twice as much for a low-end GoPro when they could have the Yi — with change left for a selfie stick.

简言之，除了对知识产权感觉不安以外，我不明白为何人们在可以买小蚁的时候会花两倍的价格买低配的GoPro——省下的钱可以买自拍杆。

Three rooms for one

1台设备监控3个房间

If GoPro is seeing the effect of competition from this Chinese rival, Nest should be worried by Yi’s home camera. The Alphabet-owned smart-home pioneer’s Nest Cam is seen as the leading security webcam, but at $200, it already looked pricey.

如果说GoPro看到了这家中国竞争对手的竞争的影响，那么Nest应该担忧小蚁的家用摄像头。Alphabet旗下这家智能家居先驱公司的Nest Cam被视为领先的安全网络摄像头，但200美元的价格已经显得有些贵了。

That was before Yi arrived with its product, which costs $60. You can remotely monitor three rooms for the price of one Nest Cam. Again, there are trade-offs: the Yi Smart camera has only 720p video resolution, unlike Nest’s 1080p, and the plastic finish is less elegant than its US rival’s metal body.

那还是在小蚁推出其售价60美元的产品之前。你可以用一台Nest Cam的价格远程监控3个房间。同样，这里的取舍是：小蚁智能摄像头只有720P视频分辨率，而Nest有1080P，而且其塑料材质也不如美国竞争对手的金属机身美观。

At first glance, though, the two products again look similar. Take the camera modules out of their stands and I struggle to discern a difference.

不过乍看之下，这两款产品再次显得有些相像。从支架上取下摄像头模块，我很难看出两者的差异。

Much of the magic of these devices is in the software. Nest Cam made big improvements over its predecessor, Dropcam, in eliminating false alarms. Yi Camera, however, apes the Dropcam’s tendency to jump at its own shadow. Every evening, it interpreted its own switch to night-vision mode as an intrusion alert.

这些设备的许多神奇体现在软件中。Nest Cam在消除错误报警方面比其前款产品Dropcam有了明显改善。然而，小蚁继承了Dropcam误报警告的倾向。每个晚上，它都会因自己转向夜间模式而发出入侵警告。

The Yi, however, has a trick that almost makes this worth bearing. Whereas Nest charges $10 a month for cloud storage of videos, Yi Camera has its own micro SD card slot, to which clips can be saved at no cost.

然而，小蚁用一个小技巧让人们几乎可以忍受这个缺陷。Nest对视频云存储每月收取10美元的费用，而小蚁自带micro SD卡槽，可以免费存储视频片段。

Verdict

结论

Xiaomi’s smartphones have long been criticised for looking like an iPhone but, its software innovations are enough to fend off copycat accusations. However, Yi’s cameras have little such differentiation — just a big price advantage.

小米智能手机一直因酷似iPhone而遭受批评，但软件创新足以让其避免抄袭的指责。然而，小蚁相机几乎没有此类差异化，只是有巨大的价格优势。

Does the high quality of these GoPro and Nest rivals excuse the flagrant imitation? GoPro’s sudden drop in sales suggests many customers believe it does.

GoPro和Nest的这些竞争对手的优质性能可以作为公然模仿的借口吗？GoPro销售突然下降表明，许多客户认为可以。