科技头条:最新功能,手机通讯录推荐

Your friends and contacts change jobs, phone numbers, email addresses, and residences all the time. But keeping your digital address book or contact list current with all these changes is tedious at best and often impossible. So, the contacts on most smartphones and computers are usually out of date and incomplete.

你的朋友和联系人总在更换工作、电话号码、邮箱地址和住址。要使你的电子通讯录或联系人列表跟上所有这些变动是项繁复乏味的工作，而且通常是无法实现的。因此，大多数人的智能手机和电脑上的联系人信息都是过时且不完整的。

Now, a tiny Silicon Valley startup called Addappt is trying to end all that by making your address book self-updating. The company is offering a free service and contacts app of the same name for the iPhone that matches people in each others' address books, and then automatically updates their information when changes occur.

现在，硅谷一家名为Addappt的小公司正在尝试让你的通讯录能够自动更新，从而结束上述烦恼。这家公司提供一项免费服务以及与公司同名的iPhone通讯录应用程序，该应用可以将其注册用户与你通讯录上的人进行匹配，关联上之后，一旦他们的信息变动，你的通讯录就会自动更新。

For instance, in my tests of Addappt, one of my colleagues who was helping me try it out updated her home address on her own phone, and the new address appeared within minutes on her contact card in my phone's address book. In turn, I added an additional phone number to my address record on my phone, and it showed up in her information for me almost immediately. No manual changes were needed on either end.

比如，在我测试Addappt时，一个帮我进行测试的同事在她自己的手机上更新了她的家庭住址，短短几分钟内，我手机通讯录里她的名片页就显示出了该新住址。反过来，我在我的手机上往自己的联系信息中加了一个额外的电话号码，而这几乎立即就出现在了她的手机上。两端都不需要进行任何手动操作。

Addappt users control their own information. Only the person who is the subject of a contact card can make changes that will be synchronized through Addappt. It isn't a social network, and it has no ties to Facebook or Twitter. Addappt says it stores only your own record, not your whole address book, on its servers. The idea is to focus on the address book, and make it better, not clutter it up.

用户自己的信息由用户负责管理。每张名片只能被它的所有人更改，而这些更改将通过Addappt被同步。它不是一个社交网络，而且与Facebook或Twitter没有关联。Addappt公司说，他们在服务器上只保存你本人的记录，而不是你的整个通讯录。这个构想是专注于通讯录，使它变得更完善，而不是把它搞复杂。

After testing Addappt, I can say it does what it promises. I tried it successfully with several people. I was able to use Addappt itself as my address book, or to stick with my phone's familiar contacts app, because Addappt instantly shares any changes with the built-in iPhone app, and vice versa. In fact, if you use Apple's iCloud to synchronize your own address books, changes made automatically by Addappt can be propagated to all iCloud-connected devices, including iPads and Macs.

在测试Addappt之后，我可以说它做到了它所承诺的。我与好几个人进行的测试都成功了。我可以将Addappt本身作为我的通讯录，或者继续使用我手机上我所熟悉的通讯录应用，因为Addappt会立即把所有信息变更同步到iPhone的内置通讯录应用上，反之亦然。事实上，如果你使用苹果iCloud来同步你的通讯录，由Addappt自动做出的任何改动都可以传到你所有与iCloud相连的设备上，包括iPad和Mac电脑。

However, this is a new product from a company with few resources, so it is just starting out. That means it has some limitations and flaws that keep it, at least for now, from being a universal, living address book.

不过，Addappt是由一家没多少资源的公司开发的新产品，所以它仅仅处于起步阶段。这意味着它存在一定的局限性和一些瑕疵，这使得它至少在目前很难成为一款普遍适用的、实时的通讯录。

One limitation is that because Addappt is an iPhone-only app, you can't get self-updating information for those people in your address book who don't use iPhones. The company says it hopes to add an Android version by the middle of 2013, and has longer-range plans for other platforms.

局限之一：因为Addappt是一款仅支持iPhone的应用，你无法自动获得你通讯录中那些不使用iPhone的人对通讯信息进行的更新。该公司说它希望在2013年年中开发出安卓版本，并且有开发兼容其他平台的版本的长期计划。

Another is that, to gain the benefits of Addappt, you have to convince even your iPhone-using contacts to download and use it. But the company makes this somewhat difficult. Every new user must apply for an invitation code to activate the app. The company says this process is needed to authenticate people, and to guard against a surge of new users, which might swamp its servers.

另一局限是，要想充分享受Addappt带来的便利，对于你那些使用iPhone的联系人，你也得说服他们下载并使用这款应用。但是这家公司把这一过程弄得有些麻烦──每一位新用户必须先申请到一个邀请码以激活这款应用。该公司称这一过程对于用户的身份验证来说是必需的，另外也可防止大量用户的涌入导致服务器瘫痪。

And the app has some flaws. It can't make a match between two Addappt users, even if they're in each others' iPhone contact lists, unless their current contact cards have the email address each used to join Addappt (it must be the top email on the contact card) or your name and the top phone number listed. Also, I found the Alphabetical index down the side of the Addappt app, meant to save you from scrolling through long lists, worked poorly.

而且这款应用程序有一些瑕疵。它对两个Addappt用户进行匹配必须满足以下条件：他们现在的联系人卡片中有他们各自用于注册Addappt账号的邮件地址（而且该地址必须是其联系人卡片中的首选邮件地址）或者你的名字以及首选电话号码在列，除此之外，即使这两个Addappt用户都在对方的iPhone联系人列表中也不能自动匹配。并且，我发现这款应用的字母索引在底部，这项功能的初衷是让你不必滚动长长的列表进行查找，但其实它很不好用。

In addition, the Addappt app lacks a Favorites or Recents list. Finally, while the company swears it will never share or sell or rent any contact information, it has yet to post a formal privacy policy.

另外，Addappt没有常用联系人和最近联系人列表。最后一点，虽然这家公司发誓说它永远不会分享、出售或者租赁任何联系人信息，但它尚未公布正式的隐私保护政策。

In many other respects, however, the app is nicely designed and easy to use. Once it is up and running, it scans your address book to see if it can match any of your contacts to other Addappt users. If it can, it automatically connects you with them. As people in your address book join and use Addappt, they also get connected.

无论如何，在其他许多方面，这款应用程序都设计得很棒，并且使用方便。一旦它被设置好并且开始工作，它便会扫描你的通讯录以查看它是否能将你通讯录中的联系人与其他Addappt用户配对。如果可以，它便会自动将你和他们关联上。当你的手机联系人中有人注册并开始使用Addappt，它同样能将他们与你关联。

Addappt users who aren't in each others' address books can ask for permission to connect. The app includes a list of connected users, and pending connections, as well as your entire address book. In the main list, connected users are designated by small icons showing two links of a chain.

对于没有在通讯录上记录彼此联系方式的Addappt用户，可以通过发送请求来建立联系。这款应用程序包含一个已建立联系的联系人列表，一个等待认证的联系人列表以及你的完整通讯录。在主列表中，已建立联系的用户被形状为带两个链环的一根链条的小图标标示出来。

Addappt's address book itself is attractive and easy to use. As you scroll through it, the contact at the top of the screen expands to show more information -- such as the city and state -- and even the local time (so you don't wake people up in the middle of the night). Icons appear that allow you immediately to make a voice call, or to send an email or text, without opening the contact entry.

Addappt的通讯录本身很有吸引力并且易用。当你滚动它时，位于屏幕顶端的联系人条目会展开，以显示更多信息──诸如其所在的州和城市──甚至当地时间（因而你不会在对方的深夜时间将其吵醒）。展开的条目上还会出现一些图标，让你可以立即拨打语音电话，或者发送邮件或消息，而不需打开该联系人条目。

What information for a person in your contact book will change once you are connected to him or her on Addappt? It depends. For some things, like name or photo or job title, the other person's choices will obliterate yours.

一旦你在Addappt上与某人建立联系，你通讯录中与该联系人对应的哪些信息会被更改？这得看情况。对于有些东西，诸如名字、照片和职位，对方提供的信息将会冲掉你原本的记录。

For others, like phone numbers, which can have multiple entries, information you've entered for the person will be preserved, and the contact's own new information will be added.

对于其他可以同时保存多条记录的信息，诸如电话号码，你已经为联系人录入的信息将被保留，而该联系人自己的新信息将会被添加进来。

Contacts' pictures in Addappt are supplied by the person whose contact it is, and are displayed in a large size on the contact card.

Addappt中联系人的照片由联系人本人提供，并且在联系人卡片上以大尺寸显示。

The product has no advertising. The company hopes to make money eventually by selling premium versions with additional features.

这款产品没有插入广告。该公司希望最终能通过销售带附加功能的高级版本挣钱。

Addappt is a promising product that could solve a real problem. But it can't reach its full potential until it runs on all platforms.

Addappt是一款很有前途的产品，它可能能帮人们解决一个很实际的问题。但在能兼容所有平台前，它还无法充分发挥其潜力。