Watches often have special value to people, for sentimental reasons or practical interests. With a watch like the Samsung Galaxy Gear -- somewhat utilitarian and probably only perceived as fashionable at a tech convention -- I found it was hard to get attached to it.
由于感情上的原因或是实际的用处，手表对人们常常具有特殊的价值。对于像三星Galaxy Gear这样一款手表，我发现很难喜欢上它。这款手表带有实用主义风格，或许只有在科技大会上才会被认为是时尚产品。
I've been testing the Gear, a new 'smart' watch that connects via Bluetooth to a Samsung mobile device and shows you notifications. It showed me calendar reminders and text messages, and told me when I had new email. And since the Gear has a microphone and speaker, you can even make phone calls through the watch (technically, the call is happening through your smartphone). It's certainly an improvement over the Sony SmartWatch I reviewed a year and a half ago.
我一直在对Gear进行测试，这款新的“智能”手表可以通过蓝牙与三星移动设备连接，显示各类通知。它可以显示日历提醒和短信，通知我收到新邮件。Gear有一个麦克风和扩音器，你甚至可以通过这只手表打电话（理论上讲，通话是通过你的智能手机进行的）。相比一年半前我测评的索尼SmartWatch，这款手表显然有进步。
But it has some serious drawbacks. For one, it costs $300, and that doesn't include the pricey smartphone you'll need to tote along with it. Also, it only works with Samsung smartphones, like the Note 3, which I tested it with.
但它也有一些严重缺陷。首先，它的价格是300美元，这还不包括需要与这款手表一同携带的昂贵智能手机。此外，它只能与Note 3等三星智能手机连接，我测试这款手表时使用的就是Note 3。
Having to charge a wristwatch once a day or every other day might not thrill some people. Lastly, there are some limitations to what this watch will actually show on its display.
每天或每隔一天需要给手表充电，这可能也让一些人提不起兴致。最后，这款手表屏幕上显示的内容是有一些局限性的。
I'll be superficial and talk appearances first. There's no way around it: The Galaxy Gear looks like a geek watch. It has a textured rubber band, a thick, adjustable metal clasp and visible screws around the face of the watch. The 1.6-inch touch screen is pretty sleek-looking. There is a lone button on the right-hand side of the watch that takes you back to the home screen, which displays the time and date.
首先谈谈外观。有一点是没法解决的：Galaxy Gear看起来像是一款极客手表。它有一个带文理的橡胶表带，一个厚重、可调节的金属表带扣，表盘周围还可以看到螺丝。1.6英寸的触屏看起来非常光滑。手表的右侧只有一个按钮，按这个按钮可以回到主屏幕，主屏幕显示时间和日期。
Possibly the geekiest part is the round eye of a camera on the band. This is, presumably, so you can talk to fellow spies through the watch and then stealthily take photos of an unsuspecting subject.
或许最“极客”的是表带上摄像头的圆眼睛。这想必是为了让你能够通过手表与间谍同事通话，然后偷拍丝毫未察觉的目标。
How the Gear fits will depend on the size of your wrist. I was a 'tweener' -- one setting was too tight and the next was a little bit loose. It weighs 2.6 ounces and comes with four gigabytes of internal storage.
Gear戴起来是否合适，这要取决于你手腕的粗细。我就找不到合适的扣眼──有一个扣眼扣着太紧，另一个扣着又有些松。这款手表重2.6盎司，内部存储空间为4G。
The Gear watch comes with a charging cradle, a small, square-shaped plastic nest. But this charging cradle serves another purpose: It's part of the Gear setup. I had to tap the Note 3 against the back of the cradle to install the Galaxy Gear manager app on the smartphone. This app is where I would manage all of the Gear settings and apps.
Gear有一个充电座，这是一个方形小塑料座。但这个充电座还有另外一个用处：它是Gear设置的一部分。我必须拿着Note 3 冲着充电座的背面拍打，才能把Galaxy Gear管理应用安装到智能手机上。这个应用可以管理所有的Gear设置和应用。
The next step of the setup involved wirelessly connecting the watch, via Bluetooth, to the smartphone. This was pretty straightforward.
设置过程的下一步是将手表通过蓝牙与智能手机无线连接。这个很简单。
However, whenever I wandered more than 30 feet or so away from the Note 3, the Gear watch on my wrist would disconnect from the smartphone. I could still see the time on the watch, but some apps wouldn't work without a connection to the smartphone.
但我只要离开Note 3，走出大约30英尺，我戴在手腕上的Gear手表就会与智能手机断开连接。我仍能看到手表上的时间，但与智能手机断开连接后，一些应用就不能用了。
Setting up those apps can be confusing. The watch comes with a few preinstalled, like the pedometer and a weather app. And there are Android-based apps on the smartphone, like Gmail, that you can opt in for notifications on the watch.
设置这些应用也令人晕头转向。手表上有一些预装的应用，如计步器和一个天气应用。智能手机上有一些基于安卓系统的应用如Gmail，你可以选择在手表上显示这些应用的相关通知。
Then there are other Samsung-branded apps -- like S Health, Samsung's proprietary fitness-tracking app, which I used with the watch's pedometer -- that require a Samsung login and password.
除此而外还有其他三星品牌的应用，诸如三星享有专利的健康状况跟踪应用S Health，我将其与手表的计步器一同使用，这些应用需要以三星的账户名和密码登录。
Finally, there are Gear-specific apps, such as FB Quickview and Tweet Quickview, that aren't the 'real' Facebook and Twitter apps, but allow you to get social-network notifications on the watch.
另外还有专门用于Gear的应用，如FB Quickview和Tweet Quickview，它们并非“真正的”Facebook和推特应用，但可以通过它们在手表上收到社交网络的通知消息。
Swiping through the watch felt somewhat intuitive. From the home screen, swiping from side to side will take you through the key apps of the watch. Once you're in an app, swiping down will bring you back to the previous screen.
在手表上的触屏操作感觉比较直观。在主屏幕上左右滑动就可以浏览手表的主要应用。进入应用界面后，向下滑动就可以回到前一个界面。
On some occasions, I found the Gear watch useful. I was out bike riding when a Google Calendar appointment popped up on the screen, reminding me I needed to be home in 10 minutes to accept a scheduled package delivery. If the watch buzzed or beeped while I was driving, I could look down and see I had new messages. I couldn't read Gmail content on the watch; the watch told me to read it on my mobile device.
在一些情况下，我发现Gear手表很有用。我有一次在外面骑自行车时，屏幕上跳出了谷歌日历(Google Calendar)的约会提醒，让我想起我得在10分钟内回家收一份事先约定的包裹。我开车的时候如果手表震动或哔哔作响，我一低头就能看到有新的消息。在手表上不能阅读Gmail的内容；手表让我在移动设备上查看。
I also couldn't see pictures friends sent me via text message. And when I tried responding using S Voice, Samsung's voice-recognition app, it was super-slow to recognize my commands.
朋友们通过短信发送给我的图片也无法在手表上查看。当我试图用三星的语音识别软件S Voice回复时，手表识别我的命令极其缓慢。
Taking photos with the watch was admittedly fun. You access the camera by swiping down from the home screen and snap a photo with a quick tap on the screen. But you can't share these from the watch. You have to send them to the smartphone first.
用手表拍照确实很有意思。从主屏幕向下滑动就能启动相机，然后在屏幕上轻轻一点就可以拍照。但不能从手表上分享这些照片。你必须先将照片发到智能手机上。
It's almost impossible to talk about a smartwatch as a two-way communicator without mentioning Dick Tracy, but the Gear is just that. I called my boss and he said the call quality was good on his end, too. I called my mom and told her I was calling her from a watch and she laughed.
说到作为双向通讯工具的智能手表就不能不提到《至尊神探》(Dick Tracy)，但Gear确实就是像那样的。我打电话给我的老板，他说他那头的通话质量也很好。我给我母亲打电话，跟她说我是用一只手表给她打的，她大笑起来。
The call quality was good because you're basically using the watch as a Bluetooth speaker. You can dial a number or call up a contact from the watch as long as the smartphone is nearby.
通话质量不错的原因是你其实是将手表当作蓝牙话筒使用。如果离智能手机不远，就可以通过手表拨号或呼叫联系人。
Samsung says the battery life of the Gear watch should be about the same as your average smartphone. In my experience, it lasted close to two days.
三星说，Gear手表的电池续航时间差不多与普通的智能手机一样。在我试用时，手表的续航时间接近两天。
And when I put it in its cradle to rest and recharge, I didn't exactly miss it.
而当我将它放到底座上充电时，也并不怀念它。