蘋果iPad Air即將正式發售。業界測評普遍反映，這款新產品更薄、更快、更輕，電池續航時間也更長，堪稱有史以來最好的平板電腦。不過，不少人認為，指紋識別這項新功能的缺席是一個很大的遺憾。
蘋果（Apple）公司內部流傳著一個老笑話，那就是史蒂夫·喬布斯周圍是一片“現實扭曲力場”：你離他太近的話，就會相信他所說的話。蘋果的數百萬用戶中已經有不少成了該公司的“信徒”，而很多蘋果投資者也賺得盆滿缽滿。不過，Elmer-DeWitt認為，在報道蘋果公司時有點懷疑精神不是壞事。聽他的應該沒錯。要知道，他自從1982年就開始報道蘋果、觀察史蒂夫·喬布斯經營該公司。
10月22日， iPad Air發布當天，蘋果（Apple）發出了一批評測機。
美國東部時間本周三晚9點——距離iPad Air預定發售時間還有一天半，關于這款設備的新聞封鎖解除，蘋果公司如愿以償的獲得了如潮水般涌來的好評。
相關評測節選如下：
沃爾特•莫斯伯格，All Things D網站：iPad Air極致纖薄，速度與動力俱佳。“近一周來，我一直在測試iPad Air，我發現這臺設備非常好用。這款iPad新品并不是一款顛覆性的平板產品，但它是對一款成功產品的重大改進。iPad Air是我評測過的最好的平板電腦。不僅僅是因為它更輕薄的設計，而是因為蘋果擁有475,000款適合平板使用的應用程序，數量遠遠高于其它平板平臺。（iPhone適用的近百萬款應用程序也都可以在iPad上運行。）相比之下，Android平板電腦所適用的絕大部分應用程序不過是手機應用程序的拉伸版。總之，如果你預算足夠，我強烈推薦你購買新款iPad Air。
大衛•波格，來自波格的便箋：波格評測iPad Air：“蘋果這一次推出的iPad Air沒有什么讓人不得不掏腰包的新功能——沒有什么視網膜屏幕、Siri語音識別甚至（iPhone 5s上那樣的）指紋識別器這種級別的新功能。公眾大感乏味，肯定會令蘋果公司的工程師們十分惱火。不過，重要的是，在不犧牲電池壽命以及造型美感的前提下能讓iPad體積縮小、重量減輕、運行速度加快，是一個了不起的成就。因為iPad Air不像微波爐，也不像電視機，一直就固定擺放在一個地方。人們在使用iPad Air時，必須拿著它，而在不用時，必須隨身帶著它。因此，它的大小和重量很重要。不過，鑒于它500美元的定價，iPad大概不需要每年、甚至每兩年一換；假如你有2012年或2013年款的iPad產品，就不用買新的了。
達蒙•達林，《紐約時報》（New York Times）：iPad Air：更輕、更快。“iPad Air明顯要比之前的iPad產品輕。如果你對蘋果這款新品哪怕稍稍有些興趣，那你很可能已經知道這一點了。蘋果公司的工程師成功地將早前版本iPad的重量減輕了近三分之一；新款9.7寸屏iPad Air的重量僅1磅。但你可能不知道的是：當你斜倚著看東西或者看電影，然后睡著了，iPad倒下來砸在你鼻子上時，那減掉的6.4盎司十分關鍵。iPad Air不會像老款iPad那樣砸傷你。”
安娜德•拉爾•希姆皮，科技博客AnandTech：iPad Air評測。“許多人在叫囂：10英寸平板不行了，如今的熱點是更小巧，但性能毫不遜色的7英寸或8英寸平板。似乎很多年前就一直在說15英寸筆記本電腦完蛋了，但蘋果卻逆勢推出了高清版MacBook Pro。同樣，上周iPad Air閃亮登場。這是對9.7英寸iPad的重大升級，Air賦予了iPad新的活力。”
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| On Oct. 22, the day the was unveiled, Apple (AAPL) handed out a bunch of review units.
When the news embargo lifted Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern -- a day and half before the device was scheduled to go on sale -- the company got what it was hoping for: A flood of positive reviews.
Excerpts:
Walt Mossberg, All Things D:Speed and Power Packed Into a Thin iPad Air. "I've been testing the iPad Air for about a week and found it a pleasure to use. This new iPad isn't a radical rethinking of what a tablet can be, but it's a major improvement on a successful product. It is the best tablet I've ever reviewed. That isn't just because of its slimmer, lighter design, but because Apple boasts 475,000 apps optimized for tablet use — far more than any other tablet platform. (The iPad also can run all of the million or so apps available for the iPhone.) By contrast, the vast majority of apps available for rival Android tablets are just stretched versions of phone apps... Bottom line: If you can afford it, the new iPad Air is the tablet I recommend, hands down."
David Pogue, A note from Pogue:The Pogue Review: iPad Air. "This time around, there's no gotta-have new feature—nothing on the level of the Retina screen, Siri voice recognition, or even a fingerprint reader (like the one on the iPhone 5s). That big public yawn must drive Apple's engineers crazy. The thing is, making the iPad smaller, lighter, and faster without sacrificing battery life or beauty is a tremendous achievement. This isn't a device that sits or hangs in one place its whole life. It's not a microwave or a TV. You have to hold this thing while you're using it, and carry it around when you're not. So size and weight matter a lot. Still, at $500, an iPad probably doesn't need replacing every year or even every other year; if you have a 2012 or 2013 model, stick with what you've got."
Damon Darlin, New York Times:Lighter and Faster, It's iPad Air. "The iPad Air is noticeably lighter than its predecessors. If you are the least bit interested in the new tablet computer from Apple, you probably already know that. The company's engineers shaved just short of a third off the weight of the earlier version; the 9.7-inch Air weighs only a pound. What you may not know is this: Those 6.4 ounces make all the difference when, as you recline while reading or watching a movie, you conk out and the iPad falls forward to bonk you on the nose. The Air won't hurt you the way the old iPad did."
Anand Lal Shimpi, AnandTech:The iPad Air Review. "It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the 10-inch tablet market was done for, with all interest and excitement shifting to smaller, but equally capable 7 or 8-inch tablets instead. It also seemed like 15-inch notebook computers were done for a couple of years ago, then Apple launched the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. In a similar vein, last week Apple introduced the iPad Air. A significant re-imagining of the original 9.7-inch iPad, the Air breathes new life into the platform."
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吉姆•達爾利普，Loop雜志：評測。“剛開始我還懷疑蘋果（10月22日）展示的新款iPad僅僅是工程機，完全不能正常工作，只是外形和即將發布的產品一樣。我必須承認我錯了。它們是貨真價實的量產機。”
本•巴加寧，科技網站Techpinions：真正面向大眾的個人電腦。“iPad Mini重量為310克，iPad Air重量為450克。不過當你一手拿起一個，幾乎感覺不到兩者的區別。iPad Air真是名副其實，用起來的感受和更輕薄iPad Mini并沒兩樣。iPad Air是最美最好的iPad。”
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| Jim Dalrymple, The Loop:Review. "I must admit, at first I was wondering if the new iPads Apple had on display at the [Oct. 22] event were prototypes—empty fakes that didn't actually work, but showed what the form-factor would be like when they were released. I'm pleased to say that they were the real thing."
Ben Bajarin, Techpinions:A Truly Mass Market Personal Computer. "The iPad Mini weighs .69 pounds and the iPad Air weighs 1 pound. But when you hold them at the same time the weight difference feels negligible. The iPad Air distributes its weight in a way that holding it and using it feels about as light as the iPad Mini. The iPad Air is easily the best designed iPad yet."
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達雷爾•埃瑟林頓，科技博客TechCrunch：蘋果再一次重新定義了大屏幕平板電腦。“得益于64位處理器，新的iLift和iWork套件在iPad Air上性能有顯著提升。應用程序各方面的速度都變快了，反應也更加敏捷。64位處理器并不意味著所有應用的速度都要比老的32位處理器快一倍。相比于32位平臺，專為64位平臺設計的軟件能獲得如閃電般的反應速度。”
克萊頓•莫里斯，《福克斯新聞》（Fox News）：尺寸非常重要。“我最大的不滿是iPad Air沒有Touch ID，即蘋果最新推出的指紋掃描器。一旦體驗過這個功能，絕對沒人再想一個鍵一個鍵地敲入密碼了。我認為Touch ID是2013年最重大的技術突破。iPhone 5s的熱賣從一個方面驗證了這項技術的成功，我們很難想象這兩部新推出的iPad竟然沒有它。蘋果iPhone的銷量要比iPad好很多，所以它的平板電腦上看不到Touch ID似乎也合情合理。總之，我比較失望。”
愛德華•C.貝格，《今日美國》（USA Today）：iPad Air是最棒的平板電腦。“最新推出的全尺寸iPad Air是迄今為止最棒的平板電腦。上幾代iPad雖然同樣出色，但如今也不得不甘拜下風。我測試了不少大屏幕平板，iPad Air明顯要勝出一籌。蘋果仍然在主宰平板電腦生態圈。iPad依舊是最好用的平板。不過，競爭對手在迅速縮小差距，它們推出了不少讓人眼前一亮的新功能，我希望蘋果能借鑒一二。我的結論：即便是蘋果的死忠，也沒有必要一定升級到iPad Air。”
哈里•麥克萊肯，《時代周刊》（Time）：iPad Air評測：蘋果的全尺寸平板不再是真正的全尺寸。“總算不需要在蘋果零售店前支個帳篷去排隊等候64位的iPad了。iPad Air性能提升的真正意義在于，iOS的開發者們今后可以寫一些更復雜的應用，而無需再顧及目前的性能瓶頸。像往常一樣，我絲毫不認為自己的老款iPad落伍了。不過在體驗過iPad Air后，我發現自己錯了。某些場景下，新款iPad表現非常給力，例如iOS 7復雜的動畫效果，iPad Air完全無壓力。”
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| Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch: Apple Makes Big Tablets Beautiful All Over Again. "When using the new iLife and iWork suites, performance is considerably bolstered by the 64-bit retrofits they got with their recent redesigns – everything feels faster and more responsive. 64-bit processing doesn't mean that every app necessarily gets a 2x boost in performance over those made for the traditional 32-bit architecture used in previous iPads, but it does mean that software made for those processors will feel even more instantly responsive than it has in the past."
Clayton Morris, Fox News: Size now matters. "My biggest disappointment with the Pad Air is the lack of Touch ID, Apple's fingerprint sensor. Once you use it you'll never want to peck out a passcode again. I see Touch ID as one of the most important technological breakthroughs of 2013. It's both a testament to how well it works on the iPhone 5s and how difficult the technology was to pull off for one product, let alone two different iPad sizes. Apple sells millions more iPhones than they do iPads, so it's no wonder Touch ID didn't make it onto the tablets. Still, I'm disappointed."
Edward C. Baig, USA Today: Thin iPad Air is most tempting tablet yet. "This latest full-size Apple tablet is the most tempting iPad yet, better than its already best of breed predecessors, superior still to each and every rival big screen slate that I've tested. Apple dominates the tablet apps ecosystem. Its tablet remains the easiest to use. But rivals are closing the gap with clever features that I wish Apple would adopt. And even for Apple aficionados, the iPad Air isn't a must-do upgrade."
Harry McCracken, Time: iPad Air Review: Apple's Full-Sized Tablet, No Longer So Full-Sized. "Nobody needs to pitch a tent in front of the local Apple Store to be the first on the block with a 64-bit iPad: The real point of Apple's speed improvements for iOS devices is about allowing developers to write ever-more ambitious apps in the future, not correcting an existing deficiency. As usual, it didn't occur to me that my old iPad might be the least bit poky until I tried the new iPad. I did, however, notice that the Air was snappier in some instances, including when it chugged its way through the animated effects in iOS 7′s interface."
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里奇•杰洛夫斯基，彭博社（Bloomberg）：蘋果office給力。“蘋果推出了專為觸摸屏優化的辦公套件：包括文檔、電子表格和PPT軟件，讓微軟相形見絀。后者自稱一直在開發iPad版Office，不過迄今為止我們只看到了一款功能有限、制作粗糙的iPhone office。蘋果的辦公套件完全能取代Office。例如Pages和微軟Word功能相當。我能用Pages創建和編輯文檔，還能把它保存在iCloud上。這樣一來，我就能在別的Mac上打開它。我還可以把文檔分享給別的非蘋果用戶。他們只需點擊一個鏈接，就能在瀏覽器中打開文檔，還能通過網頁版的Pages編輯文檔，我能實時在iPad上看到這些改動。雖然微軟的設備也支持類似功能，但用戶必須購買100美元一年的Office服務。在蘋果iPad上，一切都免費，包括最新版的iPhoto和iMovie，通通免費。”
蒂姆•史蒂文斯，科技資訊網（CNET）：更薄、更輕、更快、更好。優點：iPad Air擁有難以置信的纖薄身形，但性能得到了大幅提升，續航時間也非常給力。升級后的前置攝像頭讓FaceTime聊天更順暢；視網膜顯示屏的效果也依舊出色。缺點：iPhone 5S的Touch ID指紋掃描器不幸缺席。這一點真的非常遺憾，用戶在解鎖和購物時只好一遍遍地輸入密碼了。起售價16GB版499美元，與競爭對手產品相比稍顯昂貴。我的建議：從功能來看：iPad Air和上代產品幾乎完全一樣，僅僅是處理器性能更強，視頻聊天更加清晰而已。不過從設計上來看：iPad Air完全是煥然一新。它是目前市面上最棒的全尺寸平板電腦。
布拉德•莫倫，癮科技（Engadget）：iPad Air評測。“雖然身材嬌小，體重又輕，但iPad Air摸上去卻很結實。一體成型的鋁合金外殼一如既往的結實。全新的鈍角化邊框比前幾代的漸變式邊框要更好把握；而且蘋果增加了鉆石削邊，在斜面和iPad Air的主體之間形成一條分界線，使它更顯高檔。不過，我們的經驗顯示，削邊的缺點在于常常容易產生凹痕或被劃痕。”
馬特•沃瑪，《每日電訊報》（Telegraph）：蘋果最棒的平板。“極具銷售天賦的蘋果將一款變動不大的產品重新命名，使消費者更容易覺察到自己還沒有最新款的iPad。”
文森特•阮，科技網站SlashGear：續航給力。“iPad Air續航時間驚人。蘋果宣稱在充滿電后，iPad Air可以支撐10小時WiFi上網、視頻和音樂播放，就算在蜂窩網絡中，也可以支撐9小時。而在實際應用中，我和我的小伙伴們都驚呆了。完全充電后，經過7個多小時的折騰——通過WiFi和蜂窩網絡瀏覽網頁、播放視頻和音樂、不斷使用應用和FaceTime，以及14個半小時的待機，iPad Air竟然還有77%的電量！即便是我們故意讓iPad Air加快耗電——連續播放視頻并保持高亮，它的電池依然表現驚人。”
約翰•格魯伯，科技博客Daring Fireball：iPad Air。“充電時間有些長，即便插上了12瓦的充電器也沒啥改觀。從37%充到66%需要1個小時，從66%充滿還需要1個半小時。不過充一晚上電可以讓你滿負荷使用上一天時間，或是正常狀態下好幾天使用時間。從2010年第一代iPad開始，蘋果就一直保持著最少10小時續航時間的傳統，如今iPad Air繼續發揚光大了這一點。”(財富中文網)
譯者：項航
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| Rich Jaroslovsky, Bloomberg: Office Work. "The touch-screen-optimized productivity apps, which include a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software, are a shot across the bow of Microsoft (MSFT). The company has been working on an iPad version of its Office software but has so far released only a limited, disappointing iPhone app. The Apple apps work the way Office should. Using Pages, the equivalent of Microsoft Word, I was able to create and edit a document that I saved to Apple's iCloud service and opened on a Mac. I also shared it with a non-Apple-using colleague. By clicking on a link, he opened the document in his browser, using a Web-based version of Pages to make changes I could immediately see on the iPad. You can do stuff like this on Microsoft-powered devices too -- but it costs you $100 a year for the subscription version of Office. Here, it's free, as are the latest versions of iPhoto and iMovie."
Tim Stevens, CNET: Thinner, lighter, faster, best. The good: The iPad Air delivers more performance and comparable battery life in an attractive and impossibly thin-and-light package. An improved front-facing camera makes FaceTiming look better, and the Retina Display still looks great. The bad: The Touch ID fingerprint scanner, introduced on the iPhone 5S, is sadly absent here, meaning you'll still have to type in a passcode with every unlock and a password with every purchase. Starting at $499 for 16GB, it's still expensive compared with the competition. The bottom line: Functionally, the iPad Air is nearly identical to last year's model, offering only faster performance and better video chatting. But factor in design and aesthetics, and the iPad Air is on another planet. It's the best full-size consumer tablet on the market."
Brad Molen, Engadget: iPad Air review. "Despite its petite size and lightweight build, it doesn't feel at all flimsy. The unibody aluminum chassis is just as solid as on older iPads. The sides have a blunter edge this time around, so you get more of a grip than the gradually sloping edges on previous models; and Apple has added chamfered, diamond-cut edges that form a boundary between the bezel and the rest of the tablet's body, which gives it a premium look. In our experience, however, the downside to chamfered edges is that they're often susceptible to dings and scratches."
Matt Warma, Telegraph: Apple's finest tablet. "In a stroke of marketing genius, a largely similar product is now rebranded, making it easier for consumers to notice that they don't have the latest model."
Vincent Nguyen, SlashGear: Battery. "Apple quotes up to 10 hours of WiFi-connected browsing, video, or music from a full charge of the iPad Air, or alternatively 9 hours over a cellular connection. In practice, though, and with mixed use, we were blown away by just how long the iPad Air can last. From a full charge, after more than 7 hours of frequent use – browsing over WiFi and cellular wireless, playing video files and music, and using apps and FaceTime – and almost 14.5 hours of standby, the iPad Air still had 77-percent of its battery remaining. Even when we purposefully tried to run the battery down, playing video and keeping the screen active, the iPad simply ran and ran."
John Gruber, Daring Fireball: The iPad Air. "It does take a while to charge, even when using the included 12-watt power adapter. It took about an hour to go from 37 percent to 66 percent, and about 90 minutes to go from 66 percent all the way to 100. But charge it overnight and you should easily get a full day of active use or several days of casual use out of it. Starting with the original model in 2010, Apple has seemingly been unwilling to bend on a floor of 10 hours of battery life, and the iPad Air maintains this pedigree."
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