Apple Makes 'the Best Smartwatch,' Not for Everyone

After several days of using the new Apple Watch, manyreviewers called it “the best smart watch” but otherswondered if the watch is for everyone.

David Pogue is a technology writer at Yahoo Tech and a long-time fan of Apple products. Mr. Pogue wrote, “The Apple Watch is light-years better than any of thefeeble, clunky efforts that have come before it. Thescreen is nicer, the software is refined and bug-free, the body is real jewelry.”

But he ended the review with, “You don’t need one. Nobody needs a smartwatch. After all, it’s something else to buy, care for,charge every night. It’s another cable to pack and track. Your phone alreadyserves most of its purposes. With the battery-life situation as it is, technologyis just barely in place to make such a device usable at all.”

After spending a week with the watch, Lauren Goode of Re/code observed, “Smartwatches can sometimes feel like a solution in search of a problem.”

Many Apple products are known for being easy to use. But technologyexperts say it will take some time for users to learn the new wearable device.Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times wrote, “It took three days – three long,often confusing and frustrating days – for me to fall for the Apple Watch. Butonce I fell, I fell hard.”

Scott Stein of CNET magazine said he felt lost when using the watch. Hewrote, “There are so many ways to interact: swiping, touching, pressingharder into the display, a button and a clickable digital crown-wheel. Plus,there's Siri. Do I swipe, or click, or force touch or speak? Sometimes I didn'tknow where an app menu was. Or, I'd find getting back to an app I just hadopen would require an annoying series of crown clicks, swiping through apps,then opening the app again.”

Like many first-generation products, the reviewers are disappointed withsome features of the watch, like poor quality speaker on the watch and limitedcapability of third-party apps. And users need to have one of the latestiPhones to be able to use the watch.

Geoffrey A. Fowler of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can nowwear the future on your wrist.”

Despite the negative reviews, many of the smartwatch reviewers agreed thatApple will still sell many watches to Apple fans. Joshua Toplsky of Bloomberg Business wrote, “Apple will sell millions of these devices, and many peoplewill love and obsess over them.”

The watch will be available for pre-order online onFriday, April 10 at 3:01 a.m. EST for people in the U.S.,Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia,Hong Kong, China and Japan.

Customers will have to pay at least $349 for the leastexpensive model or as much as $17,000 for the Apple Watch Edition of “18-karat Rose Gold Case with RoseGray Modern Buckle.”

For those who cannot wait or cannot afford an Applewatch, the Chinese website Alibaba is already sellingthe knockoff – or fake – Ai Watch, which looks very similar to an AppleWatch, for about $50.

I’m Jim Tedder.

Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor

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Words in This Story

solution – n. something that solves a problem

feeble – adj. not good enough : not successful or effective

light years – n. (informal) a long distance or great amount

frustrating – adj. causing feelings of anger and annoyance

first-generation – adj. designating the first version of something madeavailable

half-baked – adj. (informal) not fully thought through

obsolescence – n. the condition of no longer being used or useful

knockoff – n. a copy of something, especially of an expensive or designerproduct.

Apple Makes 'the Best Smartwatch,' Not for Everyone

苹果公司制造的“最好的智能手表”并不适用于每个人

After several days of using the new Apple Watch, many reviewers called it “the best smart watch” but others wondered if the watch is for everyone.

在用了苹果公司制造的最新智能手表后，许多评论者称它是最好的智能手表，但是也有些人想知道它是不是适合每个人。

David Pogue is a technology writer at Yahoo Tech and a long-time fan of Apple products. Mr. Pogue wrote, “The Apple Watch is light-years better than any of the feeble, clunky efforts that have come before it. The screen is nicer, the software is refined and bug-free, the body is real jewelry.”

David Pogue是雅虎科技栏目旗下的一名作家，也是苹果产品的忠实粉丝。Pogue先生写到：“与那些之前诞生的差劲、笨拙的产品相比，苹果手表领先N光年。苹果手表的屏幕更好，软件完善没有漏洞，手表本身也珠光宝气。”

But he ended the review with, “You don’t need one. Nobody needs a smartwatch. After all, it’s something else to buy, care for,charge every night. It’s another cable to pack and track. Your phone alreadyserves most of its purposes. With the battery-life situation as it is, technologyis just barely in place to make such a device usable at all.”

但他的评论结尾处说道，“你没必要买，没有人需要智能手表，毕竟它不属于必需品，它需要养护、每晚充电，这都是另一回事。你的手机已经实现了它的大部分功能。而且它的电池寿命情况也就那样，技术只是勉强到位让它够用而已。”

After spending a week with the watch, Lauren Goode of Re/code observed, “Smartwatches can sometimes feel like a solution in search of a problem.”

在用了它一周后Re/code网站的Lauren Goode发现“智能手表有时候是自找麻烦”。

Many Apple products are known for being easy to use. But technologyexperts say it will take some time for users to learn the new wearable device.Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times wrote, “It took three days – three long,often confusing and frustrating days – for me to fall for the Apple Watch. Butonce I fell, I fell hard.”

许多苹果的产品都以简单实用而出名，但是科技专家们说使用者需要花费一定的时间学习如何使用这款新型可穿戴的设备。纽约时报的Farhad Manjoo写到：“我用了三天甚至更长时间非常迷惑和沮丧，才喜欢上智能手表，并且是深深喜欢上了。”

Scott Stein of CNET magazine said he felt lost when using the watch. Hewrote, “There are so many ways to interact: swiping, touching, pressingharder into the display, a button and a clickable digital crown-wheel. Plus,there's Siri. Do I swipe, or click, or force touch or speak? Sometimes I didn'tknow where an app menu was. Or, I'd find getting back to an app I just hadopen would require an annoying series of crown clicks, swiping through apps,then opening the app again.”

CNET杂志的Scott Stein说他在使用苹果手表时感觉迷惘。他写道，“苹果手表有很多种交互方式，滑动、触摸、用劲按屏幕，还有一个按钮和一个可点击的数码表冠。另外还有Siri。我是滑动、点击、触摸还是直接说话呢?有时候我找不到应用程序的菜单。有时候我发现返回打开过的应用程序需要一系列恼人的表冠点击、滑动各种程序，然后才能再次打开那个应用程序。”

Like many first-generation products, the reviewers are disappointed withsome features of the watch, like poor quality speaker on the watch and limitedcapability of third-party apps. And users need to have one of the latestiPhones to be able to use the watch.

就象许多第一代产品，评论家对苹果手表的一些功能感到失望，比如手表上的扬声器质量差，第三方软件功能有限。而且用户得有最新的苹果手机才能使用苹果手表。

Geoffrey A. Fowler of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can nowwear the future on your wrist.”

华尔街日报的Geoffrey A. Fowler写到“如果你能容忍只有一天待机时间，不成熟的应用程序和不可避免的淘汰，你就可以佩带这款未来的手表。”

Despite the negative reviews, many of the smartwatch reviewers agreed thatApple will still sell many watches to Apple fans. Joshua Toplsky of Bloomberg Business wrote, “Apple will sell millions of these devices, and many peoplewill love and obsess over them.”

抛开这些消极的评论，许多智能手表的评论者们都认同苹果公司还是会卖出许多的产品给粉丝们。彭博商业的Joshua Toplsky写到，“苹果公司会销售数百万的智能手表，许多人会喜欢并迷上它们。”

The watch will be available for pre-order online onFriday, April 10 at 3:01 a.m. EST for people in the U.S.,Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia,Hong Kong, China and Japan.

这款手表将于周五，也就是美国东部时间4月10日上午3:01开始在网上面向美国、加拿大、英国、德国、法国、澳大利亚、香港地区、中国大陆和日本的用户预售。

Customers will have to pay at least $349 for the least expensive model or as much as $17,000 for the Apple Watch Edition of “18-karat Rose Gold Case with RoseGray Modern Buckle.”

消费者购买最便宜的型号将需要支付349美元，购买18K玫瑰金表壳搭配玫瑰灰色现代表带的Edition版苹果手表则需要支付高达1.7万美元。

For those who cannot wait or cannot afford an Applewatch, the Chinese website Alibaba is already selling the knockoff – or fake – Ai Watch, which looks very similar to an AppleWatch, for about $50.

对于那些不想等或者负担不起一个苹果智能手表的消费者，中国的阿里巴巴网已经在售一款类似于苹果智能手表的山寨手表，大约花费50美金。

I’m Jim Tedder.

我是Jim Tedder

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Words in This Story

solution – n. something that solves a problem

feeble – adj. not good enough : not successful or effective

light years – n. (informal) a long distance or great amount

frustrating – adj. causing feelings of anger and annoyance

first-generation – adj. designating the first version of something madeavailable

half-baked – adj. (informal) not fully thought through

obsolescence – n. the condition of no longer being used or useful

knockoff – n. a copy of something, especially of an expensive or designerproduct.