There were three big dates on Apple’s calendar this year. The first was June’s WWDC, where it presented iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, the second was a surprise event last month that presented us with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch. Thursday marked the third, and Apple got out the big guns in the run up to the holiday shopping tablet rush – the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
今年苹果公司有三个重要的日子。第一个是在6月份苹果公司全球软件开发者年会上，发布了新一代移动操作系统iOS 8以及新版Mac系统;第二个是在上个月发布了iPhone 6和Apple Watch，带给大家各种惊喜。而本周四是第三个大日子，苹果公司在这天发布了平板电脑iPad Air 2 和iPad mini 3。
We went hands-on with the two new tablets to find out what’s new.
我们通过亲自体验，来为您介绍这两款平板电脑的创新之处。
The first thing you notice when picking up the iPad Air 2 is that it’s a lot slimmer and lighter than previous models. The iPad Air was last year’s best-designed tablet, but Apple has improved on it by carving 1.4mm from the already slender slate. It feels like a tablet you can hold for hours without getting tired, and it’s perfectly balanced whether you’re in portrait or landscape mode.
拿到iPad Air 2后你的第一感觉是比之前那款更轻、更薄。iPad Air被认为是去年设计最佳的平板电脑，但是苹果公司没有满足于此，在原有Pad Air的基础上又将厚度减小了1.4毫米。这样轻薄的平板就算你拿着它几个小时都不觉得累，而且不论你带着它去哪里，它都能保持相当好的平衡度。
Battery life is always a worry with slim tablets because they have less room for, well, batteries — but Apple promises that the Air 2 will have the same 10-hour stamina of its predecessor, a claim we couldn’t verify during our limited hands-on time Thursday.
平板电脑越轻薄人们，会越担心它的电池续航时间，毕竟轻薄就意味着没有足够的空间放大容量的电池。但是苹果公司承诺iPad Air 2和其之前推出的平板电脑一样，电池续航时间都能达到10个小时。但因为周四体验新品的时间有限，所以这点我们目前还无法证实。
It’s not just the body that’s had a tweak. The screen has also had a major upgrade, but not the one many observers thought was coming. The resolution remains the same, and that’s no bad thing – the iPad Air is plenty sharp. What Apple has done is fuse the different components of the screen together, eliminating all air gaps. So what, you might ask? Well, aside from helping reduce the thickness of the overall body, that process also means the screen is less reflective. Coupled with an anti-reflective coating, Apple claims that the iPad Air 2 is the least reflective tablet in the world. That’s good news if you like using your tablet outdoors, and it also makes images look like they’re almost painted onto the glass.
除了机身方面有所调整外，iPad Air 2的屏幕也有了较大的升级。虽然分辨率没有变化，但这不是问题，因为iPad Air已经足够清晰了。苹果公司对iPad Air 2重点改进的是将LCD屏幕、触屏玻璃、触控传感器紧密融合在一起，使其没有任何缝隙。你可能会觉得这没有什么大不了的。但其实这样做不仅有助于减小机身的整体厚度，还可以降低屏幕反光率。再加上一层特殊的抗反射薄膜，苹果公司宣称iPad Air 2是世界上反光率最低的平板电脑。如果你喜欢在室外使用平板电脑，那iPad Air 2绝对更适合。而且这种屏幕还能让画面看起来像直接涂在玻璃上的那样。
All these, however, are iterative improvements — there’s nothing radically innovative on the new iPad. One new feature for the iPads is Touch ID, a feature Apple introduced on the iPhone 5S that lets you access your phone with your thumbprint rather than a four-digit passcode. On an iPhone, Touch ID is fantastic, and within a few days of use you wonder how you ever lived without it. We’re not convinced it’s quite as compelling on a tablet, though. You don’t unlock tablets with as much regularity and they’re not at constant risk of loss or theft like your phone, which is always out and about with you.
当然所有这些改变都只是在之前的基础上更进了一步，新版iPad并没有什么根本上的创新。iPad系列的一个新特点就是Touch ID，这是苹果公司在发布iPhone 5S时提出的功能，这个功能能代替之前的四位数字密码，而通过你的指纹来解锁手机。Touch ID这个功能在iPhone上使用既有趣又有用，使用几天后你会发现自己根本离不开它。可是在平板电脑上，似乎并没有达到同样的效果。因为平板和手机不同，平板不需要频繁的解锁，也不像手机那样因为一直随身携带、随手拿着容易丢失所以需要保证安全性。
But Apple hasn’t included Touch ID on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 for the sake of unlocking them with ease — this is a big retail play. Touch ID is integral to Apple Pay, which is in part a slick and easy way to buy products online with the touch of a finger. Judging from how many more apps we buy since Touch ID purchasing was introduced to the App Store, we think this could eliminate multiple drop-off points in the buying process. No wonder retailers are clamoring to get on board – these tablets are the highest-tech shopping carts around.
但是苹果将Touch ID引入iPad Air 2和iPad mini 3并不仅是为了增强安全性，同时也是为了Apple Pay服务的推广。Apple Pay是一种手指触碰的快捷移动支付服务，而Touch ID是这项服务中的关键一环。根据从指纹触摸支付功能被引入苹果商店以后购买的app数量，可以看出该服务非常便捷。难怪众多零售商也都吵着要加入，这样的平板电脑确实是最高科技的购物车了。
The iPad Air 2 also got a new processor. This isn’t like the slightly tweaked iPhone 5S chip we saw on the iPad Air. Instead, Apple has designed it specifically for the iPad Air 2, and Apple claims some staggering performance improvements – up to 40% better CPU speeds and 2.5 times the graphical grunt. That’s big news if you edit photos or videos on your tablet or if you’re a mobile gamer.
iPad Air 2还配备了新的处理器。这和之前发布的仅在iPhone 5S 芯片基础上稍作调整的iPad Air不同。苹果公司专门为iPad Air 2设计了处理器，并宣称这会带来难以置信的改变—与之前相比，CPU快40%，GPU快2.5倍。这对平时喜欢用平板电脑编辑图片或视频、玩游戏的人来说是个好消息。
To take advantage of the extra power, Apple has also upgraded the iPad Air 2’s iSight camera. It’s now an 8-megapixel affair, but the real benefits come from additional software features. You get all the tricks that iPhone users have enjoyed for a while. There’s time-lapse, burst shooting and the impressive slo-mo video capture.
另外苹果公司还升级了iPad Air 2的iSight摄像头，像素达到800万，但是最大的优势还是来自于新增加的软件特点。iPhone使用者早就体验到的拍摄功能，包括延时拍摄、连拍以及很吸引人的Slo-Mo慢动作拍摄等，现在在新款平板上也可以用到了。
The iPad mini 3 is less interesting than its bigger cousin — It’s essentially last year’s tablet with the inclusion of Touch ID.
The iPad mini 3与以往相比，没有太多大变化，只是在去年的基础上引入了Touch ID功能而已。
Both of Apple’s new iPads look and feel great on first play. They will likely remain the tablets to beat in terms of quality and usability, but Apple had another surprising announcement. The iMac, Apple’s all-in-one desktop, got a refresh. It looks the same in terms of design, but the highest-end model now packs an incredibly sharp 27-inch 5K Retina display. The sharpness is immense — it will make graphic designers froth at the mouth with anticipation.
苹果发布的这两款新平板电脑刚拿在手里时，看起来感觉都很棒，它们在质量和适用性方面都堪称平板电脑的佼佼者。但是苹果公司在昨天的发布会上还发布了另一款产品--全新iMac。iMac是苹果公司的一体式电脑。新款iMac在设计上与之前类似，其最大的特点是搭载全新的27英寸、分辨率达到 5120×2880像素的Retina屏幕。这种屏幕清晰度超高，即使是平面设计工作者们也会对它垂涎欲滴。
The new iPads are available to preorder now in 16/64/128GB models for $499/$599/$699 respectively for Wi-Fi only. Add $130 on top if you have a hankering for 4G connectivity. The Retina iMac will run you $2,499.
目前，新款的平板系列有16/64 /128GB三种容量版本，WiFi版售价分别499/599/699美元(国内定价人民币3588/4288/4988元)。如果想要4G网络版，则需再加130美元，即售价分别629美元/729美元/829美元(约合人民币3851/4463/5076元)。Retina iMac的售价为2499美元(约合人民币15307元)。
