iPad Air和Mini新机初体验

    如果你是平板电脑市场无可争辩的领导者，你会如何超越自我，继续领先对手呢？很简单，下大力气升级全尺寸iPad和iPad Mini。

    本周二，苹果公司（Apple）推出了iPad Air。这是一款经过全新设计的全尺寸平板，屏幕尺寸为9.7英寸。它的设计灵感来自iPad Mini，这一点主要体现在钻石切割的斜边和更窄的竖边框上。“Air”这个名字主要是指这款平板所达到的全新轻薄水准：它重1磅，比上一代要轻0.4磅（也薄了20%）。iPad Air将于11月1日发售，16G的Wifi版起价为499美元，16G的4G版售价为629美元，128G的4G版售价则高达929美元。

    近距离观察，它的外形完全符合大家的预期：它和iPad Mini很像，就是大了一点。但你马上就能感觉到它更轻，这会让它更受欢迎，也让它和重仅0.75磅的iPad Mini几乎不分伯仲。喜欢这款大尺寸的用户会发现它更方便握持，也能拿得更久了。

    Air用的是A7处理器，和今年9月发布的iPhone5S处理器同款。苹果表示，凭借64位的架构，iPad Air用户可以享受到更快的整体性能，而随着更多开发者为这款处理器度身打造应用，它的性能将得到显著提升。说实话，老款iPad用的A6X处理器也不慢，只是iOS 7的应用跑得更快了。实际上，在我亲手把玩这台平板时，它的各种应用——除了Facebook外——确实运行得更快。

    不过，“大幅提升”奖应该颁给这次推出的iPad Mini，它将在11月下旬出货，16G版的起售价为399美元，16G的4G版售价为529美元。我入手第一代iPad Mini已经好几个月了，很喜欢它（我觉得7英寸是很理想的平板尺寸），但美中不足就是那块1024*768的屏幕。从它本身来说，这块屏也够了，但是跟最新款的iPhone、Macbook Pros和全尺寸的iPad一比，它的文本和视频显示就相形见绌，颗粒感太强了。

    现在这种局面终于改观了。它拥有了和全尺寸平板分辨率一样的屏，但又更受益于较小的尺寸（如果你发现在全尺寸平板上比较难看出像素点，在Mini上就更难了，这主要是得益于它更高的像素密度）。实际使用中你会发现一切正如你所预期：更锐利、更清晰，也更明亮。

    If you're the undisputed tablet market leader, how do you one-up yourself? Simple. With serious upgrades to the full-sized iPad and iPad Mini.

    This Tuesday, Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPad Air, a redesigned full-sized tablet with 9.7-inch display that takes design cues from the iPad Mini, including diamond-cut chamfered edges and thinner vertical borders. The "Air" moniker refers to the tablet's newfound lightness: at 1 lb., it weighs .4 lbs less than its predecessor. (It's also 20% thinner overall.) The iPad Air begins shipping on Nov. 1, starting at $499 for the 16-gigabyte WiFi version and $629 for the 16 GB version with 4G cellular network connectivity and going all the way up to $929 for a 128 GB version with 4G cellular network capability.

    Up close, it looks how you'd expect: like the iPad Mini, only, well, bigger. But the lighter weight is immediately noticeable and welcome, bringing it within spitting distance of the iPad Mini's .75 lb featherweight status. So users keen on this larger model will find it's easier to hold for longer stints.

    The Air houses the A7 processor, the same chip found in the iPhone 5s, launched this September. With 64-bit architecture, Apple says iPad Air users can expect faster overall performance, but huge performance gains will become noticeable as more developers code apps specifically for it. Truth be told, the previous iPad, with its swift A6X processor, was no slouch, but everything on iOS 7 runs a tad smoother. Certainly, during my hands-on with the tablet, apps -- with the sole exception of Facebook -- launched faster.

    The award for "most improved" ought to go to this year's iPad Mini, which ships in late November, beginning at $399 for the new iPad Mini with 16 GB and $529 for the iPad Mini 16 GB with 4G. Having spent months with first-gen model, I found much to like. (Indeed, 7 inches to me feels like the ideal tablet size.) But the Mini's Achilles Heel was a low-resolution 1,024 by 768 display. On its own, the screen was adequate, but compared with recent iPhones, MacBook Pros, and the full-sized iPad, text and media appeared inferior and pixellated.

    That's no longer the case. Now, it sports the same resolution as its larger sibling, but actually benefits from its smaller size. (If you found it hard to pick out pixels on the regular iPad, it should be even harder on the Mini, thanks to a higher pixel density.) In practice, everything appears just as you would expect: sharper, clearer and brighter.