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The best feature of Apple’s HomeView might be its simplicity

If Apple’s first smart display finally gets my family to actually use my smart home, I’ll consider it a win.

如果苹果的首款智能显示屏最终能让我的家人真正开始使用我的智能家居，我会认为这是一次成功。

Apple’s HomeView smart display seems tailor-made for the kitchen. (That aluminum base looks like it will hold up better than my now off-white kitchen HomePod.)

苹果的 HomeView 智能显示屏看起来像是为厨房量身定做的。（那个铝制底座看起来比我现在已经发黄的厨房 HomePod 更耐用。）

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I love the approach Apple has taken with the HomeView. I think it’s the shared, always-available household interface that my family might finally use. Is Apple’s first smart display my dream smart home dashboard? No. But is it the right product for Apple Home at this moment? Absolutely.

我就直说了吧。我非常喜欢苹果在 HomeView 上采取的策略。我认为这是一种共享的、随时可用的家庭界面，我的家人最终可能会使用它。苹果的首款智能显示屏是我梦想中的智能家居控制面板吗？不是。但它是目前苹果智能家居最合适的产品吗？绝对是。

A lot of initial reactions to the $299 HomeView (which looks like a giant Apple Watch on a flatter metallic HomePod Mini) ask why you would want it when you can do most of what it offers on your iPhone or iPad. And yes, its features replicate many of the things you already do on the devices you use all the time. But that’s kind of the point. HomeView gives you another interface for those things, but crucially one that is always powered, always unlocked, and always in the same spot in your home, making it easy to walk up to and interact with.

许多人对售价 299 美元的 HomeView（看起来像是一个放在更扁平的金属 HomePod Mini 上的巨型 Apple Watch）的第一反应是：既然你可以在 iPhone 或 iPad 上完成它提供的大部分功能，为什么还需要它呢？确实，它的功能复制了你已经在常用设备上做的许多事情。但这正是重点所在。HomeView 为这些操作提供了另一个界面，关键在于它始终处于通电状态、始终解锁，并且始终固定在家里同一个位置，让你能够轻松走过去进行交互。

I’ve tried using an iPad to control my smart home, run my family’s calendar, and be a shared device for controlling music. It wasn’t great. I’ll have to test HomeView, of course, but my initial impression is that this could be a much better solution for those use cases.

我曾尝试使用 iPad 来控制智能家居、管理家庭日历，并将其作为控制音乐的共享设备。效果并不理想。当然，我还需要测试 HomeView，但我的初步印象是，对于这些使用场景，这可能是一个更好的解决方案。

Most iPads are more expensive, have worse speakers, and do not like to be plugged in all the time (I present my sad, warped iPad Mini as tribute). An iPad can’t be a hub for your Apple Home; HomeView can. An iPad famously isn’t a good multiuser device, and controlling home devices on one requires it staying logged in to your personal iCloud account; HomeView offers Apple’s first crack at easy multiuser switching.

大多数 iPad 更贵、扬声器效果更差，而且不喜欢一直插着电源（我那台悲惨、变形的 iPad Mini 就是证明）。iPad 无法成为苹果智能家居的中心；但 HomeView 可以。众所周知，iPad 并不是一个好的多用户设备，在 iPad 上控制家居设备需要它始终登录你的个人 iCloud 账户；而 HomeView 提供了苹果首次尝试的简便多用户切换功能。

Apple designed HomeView as a communal device that sits in a fixed place in the home. This means it’s always where you expect it to be, which matters when you want to adjust the thermostat or can’t find your phone and want to check your calendar. Not having a battery or detachable screen is a feature for me, because devices that do inevitably wander off and die under a couch cushion.

苹果将 HomeView 设计为一种放置在家里固定位置的公共设备。这意味着它总是出现在你预期的位置，当你想要调节恒温器，或者找不到手机想查看日历时，这一点非常重要。对我来说，没有电池或可拆卸屏幕反而是一个优点，因为那些具备这些功能的设备最终总会不知所踪，或者掉在沙发垫下没电。

And while many people are fine using their personal phones and tablets to interact with the digital world when at home, and don’t want yet another device with a screen on their countertop or wall, the millions of Echo Shows, Google Nest Hubs, Skylight Calendars, and the like in homes today are a good indicator that there’s interest in this type of interface.

虽然许多人习惯在家时使用个人手机和平板电脑与数字世界互动，且不希望在台面或墙上再多放一个带屏幕的设备，但如今家庭中数以百万计的 Echo Show、Google Nest Hub、Skylight 日历等设备，充分表明了人们对这种界面的需求。

As Apple’s uncharacteristically chaotic launch video shows, HomeView targets a new demographic for the company: busy, Apple-centric households. One feature I’m most interested in is HomeView’s role as a home video phone. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to call my daughter when I’m not home, and her phone is dead or on silent? Based on Apple’s video, if she’s home, my call can now ring on the HomeView. I’ve occasionally used the drop-in feature on Echo smart speakers to get her attention, further proof of the advantage of always-on home devices.

正如苹果那段不同寻常的混乱发布视频所展示的那样，HomeView 瞄准了公司的一个新群体：忙碌的、以苹果生态为中心的家庭。我最感兴趣的功能之一是 HomeView 作为家庭视频电话的角色。你知道我不在家时，有多少次试图给女儿打电话，结果她的手机没电或静音了吗？根据苹果的视频，如果她在家里，我的电话现在可以在 HomeView 上响起。我偶尔会使用 Echo 智能音箱的“直接呼入”功能来引起她的注意，这进一步证明了常驻家庭设备的优势。

I see HomeView as filling the awkward space where families don’t want phones at the dinner table or on the kitchen counter, but still want to check what time Zoey’s soccer game is or look up the origin of French toast (yeah, just kidding). This inevitably ends with one person pulling out their phone, which gives everyone else implicit permission to do the same.

我认为 HomeView 填补了一个尴尬的空白：家庭成员不希望在餐桌或厨房台面上放手机，但仍想查看 Zoey 的足球比赛时间，或者查询法式吐司的起源（好吧，开个玩笑）。这种情况最终往往演变成一个人掏出手机，从而给了其他人同样做的默许。

Smart displays and speakers from Amazon and Google already help with this to some extent, but Apple’s version comes without ads (see the Echo Show) and may have a longer lifespan (RIP Pixel Tablet). Siri AI’s much-hyped “personal context” capabilities, in which it can scan your text messages and emails and serve up relevant information to up to six members of your household, also give it an edge here.

亚马逊和谷歌的智能显示屏和音箱在一定程度上已经解决了这个问题，但苹果的版本没有广告（参考 Echo Show），而且可能拥有更长的使用寿命（向 Pixel Tablet 致哀）。Siri AI 被大肆宣传的“个人情境”功能——即它可以扫描你的短信和电子邮件，并为家中最多六名成员提供相关信息——也使其在此方面占据优势。

I asked Kaiann Drance, vice president of product marketing for home at Apple, why Apple chose now for its biggest smart home push yet. She said Siri AI and the personal context it brings, which she called Apple’s “privacy story,” came together with a device designed specifically for the home. “With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven’t been able to deliver before,” she said.

我问苹果负责家庭产品营销的副总裁 Kaiann Drance，为什么苹果选择现在进行其有史以来最大的智能家居推广。她说，Siri AI 及其带来的个人情境功能（她称之为苹果的“隐私故事”）与专为家庭设计的设备结合在了一起。“有了 Siri AI 的魔力，它以一种我们以前无法实现的方式整合在了一起，”她说。

Siri AI made this possible because it’s “much more capable,” said Lilian Rincon, vice president of product marketing for AI at Apple. She also pointed to its new conversational abilities. “It’s great because you can just ask it to change the temperature on your thermostat in a very natural way. As the Siri AI capabilities continue to evolve, the home experience is fitting to be able to interact with in a natural way.”

苹果负责 AI 产品营销的副总裁 Lilian Rincon 表示，Siri AI 使这一切成为可能，因为它“能力强得多”。她还指出了其新的对话能力。“这很棒，因为你可以用非常自然的方式要求它调节恒温器。随着 Siri AI 能力的不断进化，家庭体验正变得能够以自然的方式进行交互。”