iPad Air 2可以取代个人电脑？

    当华丽丽的平板电脑在市场上初次亮相时，许多人认为它主要是用来消费内容，而不是创作内容的。谁能反驳呢？没有键盘和鼠标，只能用短粗的手指来敲击和滑动。要用它来创作，怎么看都显得十分麻烦。

    但事物的变化是如此之快。我的iPad很快就成为了工作中不可或缺的工具。在过去两年中，我每天都用iPad来工作。我经常吹嘘说，它是我最爱的电脑，即使要拿它同我功能全面的台式机iMac，或轻薄笔记本MacBook Air相比也不例外。iPad轻便易携，电池能支撑一整天，还内置无线网络，更不用说海量的应用，这些特征皆是它的加分项。

    我发现，每次临近圣诞假期，我对苹果iPad发布会的期待都要超过iPhone发布会。后者通常会更早举行，今年也不例外：苹果在10月如期推出了最新的iPad系列产品。

    在这次升级版的iPad问世之前，该系列产品的销量已经连续三个季度下滑。与之相对应的，则是包括苹果iPhone在内的智能手机市场规模逐渐扩大。这一变化模糊了手机和平板电脑的界限，并且抛出了一个问题：iPad在我们的生活中应当扮演什么样的角色？

    全新iPad Air 2（新产品中最值得注意的一款）的屏幕色彩和对比度有所提升，机身更加轻薄，还拥有苹果的指纹扫描技术。它还搭载了更快的处理器，含有更大的存储空间。

    我花了两周来测试iPad Air 2。最终结论是：它既让我印象深刻，但同时也让我非常失望。在滚动文档和网页，或加载应用时，这款平板电脑响应速度之快，运行之顺畅，令人难忘。但当我抛开外接物理键盘，完全把它当作移动设备时，我感觉与手机相比，iPad不过是有了一块能够展现更大图画、更多文字的屏幕而已。

    （这应该并不让人意外，因为我最近几周一直在用苹果最近的iPhone 6 Plus，我相信正是使用这款手机的体验让我产生了这种感觉。）

    与其用iPad来阅读文章，或是在YouTube上观赏视频，我宁愿继续用我的iPhone，这种体验同样令人愉悦。说来有趣，朋友们的做法和我类似：自从换上了大屏幕的iPhone 6 Plus，他们的iPad就被搁在架子上积灰了。

    由于苹果移动操作系统iOS的最新版本在iPad、iPad mini和iPhone 6 Plus上极其相似，其产品类似性更加凸显出来。比如说，iPhone的横屏模式已经足够阅读双栏文字，而之前只有在屏幕更大的iPad上才有这种效果。

    When modern tablet computers first arrived to market, many people thought they would be primarily used to consume, rather than create, content. And who could argue? Without a keyboard or mouse, and only a stubby finger to flick, creation seemed like it would be troublesome at best.

    My, how things change. My Apple iPad has quickly become an indispensable tool for work. For the last two years I’ve worked from an iPad on a daily basis. I often tout it as my favorite computer even when I’m asked to compare it to my iMac, a full-fledged desktop, or MacBook Air, a featherweight laptop. The iPad’s portability, day-long battery life, and built-in cellular connection—not to mention the broad selection of apps—only help.

    As the winter holiday season approaches each year, I find myself more excited for Apple’s iPad event than I am for its iPhone event, which typically precedes it. This year was no different: right on schedule in October, Apple introduced an updated iPad lineup.

    The improved iPad line comes at a time when Apple AAPL -0.73% has seen a decline in that product’s sales for three consecutive quarters. The decline itself coincides with a trend in which smartphones, including Apple’s own iPhone, are growing in size. The shift blurs the line between phone and tablet, and prompts the question: where should the iPad fit in our lives?

    The new iPad Air 2 (the most notable model of the new crop) offers a display with improved color and contrast, a slimmer profile, and Apple’s fingerprint scanning technology. It also has a faster processor and more storage.

    I spent two weeks testing the iPad Air 2, and at the end of my time with the device, I found myself equally impressed and disappointed. The tablet is impressively responsive and smooth when it comes to scrolling through documents or web pages and launching applications. Yet when I set aside the physical keyboard that I used with the device and attempted to use it strictly as a mobile device, I often felt as if the iPad was nothing more than an extra screen offering bigger pictures and larger text than my phone.

    (It should come as no surprise that I have been using Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus in recent weeks, which I’m sure helped contribute to the feeling.)

    Instead of picking up my iPad to read an article or watch a video on YouTube, I would find myself remaining with the iPhone, the experience just as pleasant. Anecdotally, friends have told me similar scenarios: since upgrading to the iPhone 6 Plus, their iPad sits on a shelf, collecting dust.

    The similarities are underscored by the fact that the latest version of iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, is exceedingly similar between the iPad, iPad mini and iPhone 6 Plus. For example, there is now enough room on the iPhone for two column-views in landscape mode, something only the larger iPad previously enjoyed.