Apple Watch 將改變你的世界 學起來不太容易

It took three days — three long, often confusing and frustrating days — for me to fall for the Apple Watch. But once I fell, I fell hard.

我用了三天，漫長的、時常感到困惑和沮喪的三天，才愛上Apple Watch。但一旦愛上了，就愛得頗爲深沉。

First there was a day to learn the device’s initially complex user interface. Then another to determine how it could best fit it into my life. And still one more to figure out exactly what Apple’s first major new product in five years is trying to do — and, crucially, what it isn’t.

首先，用了一天時間來學習這款設備的用戶界面，它一開始有些複雜。然後又用了一天確定如何對它進行最佳設置，以適合我的生活。還要用一天來弄明白，作爲蘋果(Apple)五年來推出的首款重要的新產品，它試圖實現什麼，以及更爲關鍵的——它不打算實現什麼。

It was only on Day 4 that I began appreciating the ways in which the elegant $650 computer on my wrist was more than just another screen. By notifying me of digital events as soon as they happened, and letting me act on them instantly, without having to fumble for my phone, the Watch became something like a natural extension of my body — a direct link, in a way that I’ve never felt before, from the digital world to my brain. The effect was so powerful that people who’ve previously commented on my addiction to my smartphone started noticing a change in my behavior; my wife told me that I seemed to be getting lost in my phone less than in the past. She found that a blessing.

到第四天時，我纔開始體會它的好處，我手腕上這款650美元（約合4000元人民幣）、外形典雅的電腦並非只是又一塊顯示屏那麼簡單。它能把剛剛發生的數碼事件第一時間通知給我，讓我做出及時的應對，但又不用去摸手機，這樣一來，它就成了我身體的自然延伸，以一種我以前從未感覺到的方式，將數碼世界和我的大腦直接連接在了一起。這種影響如此之大，以致於之前曾說我癡迷於智能手機的人，都開始注意到了我的行爲變化；我妻子對我說，我似乎不像過去那麼沉迷於手機了。她認爲這是上天的恩賜。

The Apple Watch is far from perfect, and, starting at $350 and going all the way up to $17,000, it isn’t cheap. Though it looks quite smart, with a selection of stylish leather and metallic bands that make for a sharp departure from most wearable devices, the Apple Watch works like a first-generation device, with all the limitations and flaws you’d expect of brand-new technology.

Apple Watch遠非完美，並且不便宜，從350美元起，扶搖直上可以到1.7萬美元。儘管看起上去相當漂亮，選用了時尚的皮革和金屬腕帶，並由此顯得與大部分可穿戴設備截然不同，但Apple Watch的表現還是像個第一代設備，有着人們對一項全新的技術所能猜到的一切制約和缺陷。

What’s more, unlike previous breakthrough Apple products, the Watch’s software requires a learning curve that may deter some people. There’s a good chance it will not work perfectly for most consumers right out of the box, because it is best after you fiddle with various software settings to personalize use. Indeed, to a degree unusual for a new Apple device, the Watch is not suited for tech novices. It is designed for people who are inundated with notifications coming in through their phones, and for those who care to think about, and want to try to manage, the way the digital world intrudes on their lives.

此外，不同於之前具有突破意義的蘋果產品，Watch的軟件要求用戶經歷一個學習過程，這一點可能會阻礙一些人。對大部分消費者來說，Watch不是那種買來就能完美使用的東西，因爲只有在用戶通過撥弄各種軟件設置，進行完個性化定製後，它纔會處於最佳狀態。實際上Watch不太適合科技新手，這一點的嚴重程度，是在以往的蘋果新產品中不多見的。它的設計，面向的是被手機通知淹沒的人，或是願意去思考數碼世界對生活的打擾，並試圖去管理它的人。

Still, even if it’s not yet for everyone, Apple is on to something with the device. The Watch is just useful enough to prove that the tech industry’s fixation on computers that people can wear may soon bear fruit. In that way, using the Apple Watch over the last week reminded me of using the first iPhone. Apple’s first smartphone was revolutionary not just because it did what few other phones could do, but also because it showed off the possibilities of a connected mobile computer. As the iPhone and its copycats became more powerful and ubiquitous, the mobile computer became the basis of a wide range of powerful new tech applications, from messaging to ride-sharing to payments.

然而，即便並非爲所有人準備，蘋果在這款設備上還是摸索到了一些東西。Watch的實用性已經足以證明，科技業對可穿戴電腦的迷戀，可能很快就會結出果實了。在這一點上，過去一週使用Apple Watch的經歷，讓我想起了用第一款iPhone時的情景。蘋果的第一款智能手機具有革命性的意義，不僅是因爲它做到了鮮有其他手機能做到的事情，還因爲它顯示出了聯網的移動電腦的可能性。隨着iPhone及其追隨者變得越來越強大和普及，這種移動電腦成了強大新技術的廣泛應用的基礎，無論是即時通訊，拼車服務，還是支付應用。

Similarly, the most exciting thing about the Apple Watch isn’t the device itself, but the new tech vistas that may be opened by the first mainstream wearable computer. On-body devices have obvious uses in health care and payments. As the tech analyst Tim Bajarin has written, Apple also seems to be pushing a vision of the Watch as a general-purpose remote control for the real world, a nearly bionic way to open your hotel room, board a plane, call up an Uber or otherwise have the physical world respond to your desires nearly automatically.

同理，Apple Watch最令人興奮之處不在於設備本身，而是在於它作爲第一款主流可穿戴電腦可能開闢的科技新天地。穿戴在身體上的設備顯然可以在醫療和支付領域大有作爲。正如科技分析師蒂姆·巴加林(Tim Bajarin)在文章中所寫的那樣，蘋果似乎還在推動這樣一種設想的實現：把手錶作爲真實世界裏的一款多功能遙控器，一種幾近用意念一般打開酒店房門、登機、叫車的方式，讓物理世界能接近自動地迴應自己的願望。

These situations suggest that the Watch may push us to new heights of collective narcissism. Yet in my week with the device, I became intrigued by the opposite possibility — that it could address some of the social angst wrought by smartphones. The Apple Watch’s most ingenious feature is its “taptic engine,” which alerts you to different digital notifications by silently tapping out one of several distinct patterns on your wrist. As you learn the taps over time, you will begin to register some of them almost subconsciously: incoming phone calls and alarms feel throbbing and insistent, a text feels like a gentle massage from a friendly bumblebee, and a coming calendar appointment is like the persistent pluck of a harp. After a few days, I began to get snippets of information from the digital world without having to look at the screen — or, if I had to look, I glanced for a few seconds rather than minutes.

這些情景表明，這款手錶可能會把我們帶向集體自戀的新高度。然而，在我使用這款設備的一個星期裏，我開始思考相反的可能性——它也可能會解決智能手機帶來的社交憂慮。Apple Watch的最巧妙的功能是“輕拍引擎”——通過用不同的模式輕拍你的手腕，提醒你關注不同的數字化通知。當你逐漸熟悉了這些提醒的區別後，它們會在你的潛意識裏留下深刻印象：來電和提醒是急促連續的跳動，短信提醒像是一個友好的大黃蜂的溫柔按摩，行事曆安排像是不斷地撥弄一把豎琴。幾天之後，我不需要看屏幕就可以獲得來自數碼世界的信息提醒了——或者，如果我需要看的話，也只需花上幾秒鐘掃一眼，而不是好幾分鐘。

If such on-body messaging systems become more pervasive, wearable devices can become more than a mere flashy accessory to the phone. The Apple Watch could usher in a transformation of social norms just as profound as those we saw with its brother, the smartphone — except, amazingly, in reverse.

如果這種穿戴在身體上的消息系統更加普遍，可穿戴設備就不光是手機的一種酷炫的配件。Apple Watch可以引入一場智能手機曾經引發的那種深刻的社會規範變革，只不過是向相反的方向，這讓人喜出望外。

For now, the dreams are hampered by the harsh realities of a new device. The Watch is not an iPhone on your wrist. It has a different set of input mechanisms — there’s the digital crown, a knob used for scrolling and zooming, and a touch screen that can be pressed down harder for extra options. There is no full on-screen keyboard, so outbound messages are confined to a set of default responses, emoji and, when you’re talking to other Watch users, messages that you can draw or tap.

目前，這些夢想在一款新設備的嚴峻現實前被壓抑了。這款手錶並不是手腕上的iPhone。它的輸入機制不同——它有一個數字表冠，即用來滑動和放大屏幕的旋鈕，還有一個可以通過增大按壓力度調出其他選項的觸屏。Apple Watch沒有可以顯示在屏幕上的全鍵盤，因此它發出的信息僅限於一系列默認回覆和表情符號。當你與其他Apple Watch用戶溝通時，還可以畫圖或輕拍。

The Watch also relies heavily on voice dictation and the voice assistant Siri, which is more useful on your wrist than on your phone, but still just as hit-or-miss. I grew used to calling on Siri to set kitchen timers or reminders while I was cooking, or to look up the weather while I was driving. And I also grew used to her getting these requests wrong almost as often as she got them right.

這款手錶還嚴重依賴語音指令和語音助手Siri，後者在手錶上比在手機上用處更大 ，但也很不穩定。我越來越習慣於在烹飪的時候用蘋果語音助手Siri來設置廚房的定時器或提醒設備，或是在開車時用它來查看天氣。而且我也越來越習慣她犯錯的頻率幾乎與做對的頻率一樣高。

The Watch also has a completely different software design from a smartphone. Though it has a set of apps, interactions are driven more by incoming notifications as well as a summary view of some apps, known as glances. But because there isn’t much room on the watch’s screen for visual cues indicating where you are — in an app, a notification or a glance — in the early days, you’ll often find yourself lost, and something that works in one place won’t work in another.

它也擁有與智能手機完全不同的軟件設計。儘管它有一系列應用程序，但互動主要來自收到的通知和一些應用程序的摘要視圖——這種功能被稱作“glance”（瞥一眼）。但是，由於目前手錶屏幕上沒有太多空間用來放置能說明你所處位置——在應用程序、通知還是“瞥一眼”中——的視覺線索，你經常會發現自己迷了路，而且有些東西在一個地方起作用，但在另一個地方就會失效。

Finding nirvana with the watch involves adjusting your notification settings on your phone so that your wrist does not constantly buzz with information that doesn’t make sense on the Watch — like Facebook status updates, messages from Snapchat, or every single email about brownies in the office kitchen. Apple’s notification settings have long been unduly laborious; battling them while your hand is buzzing off the hook is an extra level of discomfort.

要想對這隻手錶駕輕就熟，還需要調整你手機上的通知設置，這樣你的手腕纔不會因爲手錶上毫無意義的信息而不停震動——比如Facebook狀態更新、來自Snapchat的信息，以及每一封電子郵件——包括那些關於辦公室廚房裏的布朗尼蛋糕的。蘋果的通知設置一直過於繁複；在與它們對抗的同時，你的手還在不停地震動，更是令人不適。

Other problems: Third-party apps are mostly useless right now. The Uber app didn’t load for me, the Twitter app is confusing and the app for Starwood hotels mysteriously deleted itself and then hung up on loading when I reinstalled it. In the end, though, it did let me open a room at the W Hotel in Manhattan just by touching the watch face to the door.

其他問題：目前第三方應用程序基本沒用。Uber的應用程序無法載入，Twitter令人疑惑，喜達屋(Starwood)酒店的應用程序曾莫名其妙地自行刪除，當我重新安裝時，它又一直停留在加載狀態。不過最後，它還是讓我在曼哈頓的W酒店打開了房間，方法就是用表面觸碰房門。

I also used the Watch to pay for New York cabs and groceries at Whole Foods, and to present my boarding pass to security agents at the airport. When these encounters worked, they were magical, like having a secret key to unlock the world right on my arm. What’s most thrilling about the Apple Watch, unlike other smartwatches I’ve tried, is the way it invests a user with a general sense of empowerment. If Google brought all of the world’s digital information to our computers, and the iPhone brought it to us everywhere, the Watch builds the digital world directly into your skin. It takes some time getting used to, but once it clicks, this is a power you can’t live without.

我還用它在紐約支付了打車費，在全食超市(Whole Foods)結賬，並向機場安檢人員展示了我的登機牌。當它在這些事情中起作用時，就有種神奇的感覺，好像我的胳膊上就有一把能開啓這個世界的密鑰一樣。關於Apple Watch，最令人興奮的一點就是，與我嘗試過的其他智能手錶不同，它能使用戶獲得一種被賦予能力的感覺。如果說谷歌(Google)把世界上所有的數字信息放到了電腦上，iPhone又使我們能隨處查看這些信息，Apple Watch則直接把這個數碼世界嵌入到你的皮膚裏。要適應這一切還需要一些時間，但是一旦適應，你就會獲得一種不可或缺的力量。

The New York Times announced last week that it had created “one-sentence stories” for the Apple Watch, so let me end this review with a note that could fit on the watch’s screen: The first Apple Watch may not be for you — but someday soon, it will change your world.

《紐約時報》上週宣佈，它爲Apple Watch創造了“一句話報道”，所以讓我用一句可以放在手錶屏幕上的話來結束這篇評論：Apple Watch剛開始可能不適合你——但是在不久的未來，它將改變你的世界。