Gear of the Year: All the Best Stuff from 2017

Every trip around the sun, we prod,poke, and test hundreds of products here at Wired. Most of them are just fine. Not boring—few things are truly boring these days—though also not really exciting. But every so often, we get a product in our hands that very clearly stands out, either by pushing its category forward with some new innovation,or perfecting an established and already noteworthy design. When we get to handle a product like this, it gives us a rush of excitement that makes us want to tell you about it, explain why we love it, argue about why it’s important.

The products below exhibit the new ideas that pushed consumer tech forward during 2017. The list spans the width of our purview, from mobile phones and televisions to transportation,parenting, and the smart home. This is the best gear of the year.

每年，我们《连线》杂志都会变着法儿测试数百件产品。大多数产品都还不错。不算乏味（现在真正乏味的产品已经很少了），但也不能真正令人激动。但是每隔一段时间，我们就能拿到一个明显出类拔萃的产品，或是因创新技术推动而向前发展，或是因进一步完善了某种已经相当成熟且引人注目的设计。有机会操作这类产品时，我们会兴奋不已，迫不及待地想介绍给您，解释我们为什么喜欢它，证明它为什么这么重要。

下面的产品展示了2017年期间推动消费品技术发展的新理念。这份列表拓宽了我们的视野，涵盖了我们测试的所有产品，从手机、电视到交通、育儿和智能家居，都是一年中最棒的产品。

Best Mobile Device: iPhone X

It’s not that the iPhone X is the fastest phone (though it is) or the one with the niftiest features (also true). The thing that makes the iPhone X the best phone of 2017 is that it tried the hardest.While other companies kept integrating fingerprint readers, Apple threw that out and made facial recognition work.It also pushed augmented reality into unexplored places, and kept trying new camera tricks. All is not perfect in the world of iOS, and Apple has some work left to do on that whole “all-screen”thing, but the iPhone X still counts as the best phone anyone released this year. No other device or company is trying this hard to move the smartphone game forward.

Best Audio Device: UE Wonderboom

This is the third year in a row that a UE speaker has won an audio award,and we honestly could have given the award to the Boom 2 again, or the new UE Blast with Alexa just as easily.But the $80 Wonderboom is special. It doesn’t have a trendy voice assistant in it, but it’s sort of the perfect portable Bluetooth speaker in many ways. The 4-inch party ball of a speaker is completely waterproof (IP67). In fact, it floats, making it the ultimate pool toy. It even has a little loop on the top so you can hang it on a backpack or bike—and since it’s been drop-tested extensively,don’t worry about fumbling it. Did we mention it gets 10 hours of battery life and belts out pristine sound? Considering its size, bass notes come through with a wallop, and the rest of the audio frequencies are balanced and never tinny. This little ball has it all.

最佳智能设备：iPhone X

这么说并不是因为iPhone X是最快的手机（虽然这是事实），或者是外观最漂亮的手机（也是事实）。iPhone X成为2017年最佳智能手机的原因是，该手机尝试了最难的技术。当其他公司还在不断整合指纹识别器的时候，苹果公司已经抛开了这个技术，将面部识别功能投入使用。该公司还将增强现实技术投入了未知领域，并且不断尝试新的摄像头技术。iOS系统并非完美无缺，整个“全面屏”也还有些工作要做，但iPhone X仍然是2017年发布的手机里最棒的。没有任何其他手机或公司像苹果这样致力于将智能手机技术推向前进。

最佳音响设备：UE Wonderboom

这是UE音箱连续三年获得音响大奖。我们要是再次把奖项授予Boom 2，或者是内置Alexa语音助手的新款UE Blast，也能同样问心无愧。但是80美元的Wonderboom很特别，并没有内置流行的语音助手，不过从很多方面看都是无可挑剔的便携式蓝牙音箱。这个4英寸派对球造型的扬声器完全防水（IP67）。事实上，它还可以漂浮在水面上，使其可以作为最棒的泳池玩具。甚至它的顶部还有一个小环，所以您可以把它挂在背包或自行车上。并且，它经历过多次防摔测试，所以即使摔落也不用担心。我们有没有提到该音箱的电池续航时间长达10个小时并且能播放无损音乐？由于大小限制，低音以冲击波释放，其余的音频保持平衡，无刺耳声音。这个小球集所有功能于一身。

Best Voice Assistant Product: Sonos One

Sonos’s newest speaker is nearly identical to the Play:1 from a couple years ago. But while this wireless speaker puts out excellent audio as part of a multi-room, app-controlled system just like any Sonos product, it also has Alexa inside. The Sonos One plunks Amazon’s voice assistant directly inside a box that sounds amazing (way better than any of the Echo devices) and adds voice control to your Sonos system to boot. If you don’t like Alexa, you can add Google Assistant when it shows up in the One during 2018. It’s when that upgrade happens that this speaker becomes the most powerful node in your smart home. For now, it’s still the best-sounding Alexa speaker, and that’s enough to land it on our list.

最佳语音助手产品：Sonos One

Sonos最新的扬声器与几年前的Play: 1几乎毫无二致。但是，这款无线音箱与其他Sonos产品一样，利用多房间、app控制的系统输出极佳音质，除此之外，还内置了Alexa语音助手。Sonos One将亚马逊的这款语音助手直接内置于一个盒子里（这个方法比任何Echo设备都要好得多），这令人十分惊奇，并且将语音控制添加到了您的Sonos系统中。如果您不喜欢Alexa，也可以添加2018年将在One中推出的Google智能助手。2018年正值系统升级，这个音箱会成为智能家居中最功能强大的节点。即使是现在，它仍然是最好的内置Alexa助手的扬声器，就凭这一点，我们就应该将其列入名单。

Best Home Entertainment Product:LG C7 OLED

When it comes to TVs, a lot of new words and hot acronyms have popped up in the last few years—terms like UHD, 4K, HDR. But the only acronym you need to know is OLED. Organic Light Emitting Diode screens outperform other TVs because every pixel on an OLED panel can be lit up individually, or turned completely off, at any time.This earns you incredibly bright and vivid colors that never appear washed out, as well as the deepest blacks your eyes have seen. LG is the only major company making TV screens based on this technology, though a few others,like Sony, are using its screens in their own TVs. Last year, we picked an LG OLED as our top TV. This year, the company’s C7 OLED is the best TV you can own, hands down. LG improved the brightness, made blacks even blacker,and continued to tweak its impressive WebOS interface, which might be the only TV interface worth keeping over a Roku. The 55-Inch C7 is currently$1,700 over the holidays, about a grand cheaper than last year, and worth every penny.

最佳家庭娱乐产品：LG C7 OLED电视机

说到电视机，过去几年涌现出许多新词和热门缩写词，例如UHD（超高清）、4K（超高清）、HDR（高动态范围图像）。但是您唯一真正需要了解的缩写是OLED。有机发光二极管屏幕（OLED）优于其他电视机，因为OLED面板上的每个像素可以随时单独点亮或完全关闭。这样您就可以获取极其艳丽的色彩，看上去永不褪色，还有您曾见过的最暗的黑色。LG是唯一以这种技术为基础制造电视屏幕的大公司，不过包括索尼在内的其他几家公司也正在把这种屏幕用在自己生产的电视机中。去年我们选择了一款LG公司的 OLED作为最佳电视机。2017年，该公司的C7 OLED无疑是您可以拥有的最好的电视机。LG提升了屏幕的亮度，使黑色更黑，并继续改进其令人耳目一新的WebOS接口。该接口可能是唯一值得保留在Roku上的电视接口。55英寸的C7目前的节日特价是1700美元，比2016年便宜差不多一千美元，物有所值。

Best Laptop: iPad Pro

OK, so it’s not a pure laptop. But 2-in-1 PC design is here to stay and the iPad Pro was the best of these hybrid machines we tried this year. The new 10.5-inch size splits the difference between media consumption wants and productivity needs, and improvements to iOS 11 and the app ecosystem make this year’s iPad a huge step up from previous Pro Apple tablets. From its gorgeous screen to its blazing-fast A10X Fusion chip and Apple Pencil support, the iPad Pro is a device that rivals Apple’s own notebooks. All you need to add to the base configuration is a good keyboard.

Best in Transportation: Dockless Bike Sharing

Bike sharing burst upon the US scene in 2008, when Washington, DC launched a 10-station, 120-bike pilot program. But it took until 2017 multimodal concept to go full-techie—and to start attracting venture capital dollars like nuts and bolts to a magnet.This is the year bike share programs freed themselves from the dock, and(hopefully) the year cycling began rolling toward the American mainstream.Dockless bike sharerslocate their steeds with specialized apps, unlock them with their smartphones, and park them where they want. (OK, not in a tree, please.)For everyday commuters and errandrunners, dockless cycles mean cheaper rides and more flexibility; for cities,they mean fewer capital construction costs up front. This year, Chinese companies Mobike and Ofo (both valued at $3 billion) launched in Washington,DC, and Seattle, respectively. American-born Limebike boasted 1 million rides in the country in 2017, with a 60 percent retention rate and a $225 million valuation to boot. If cities can keep building bike lanes, the American revolution is well on its way.

最佳笔记本电脑：iPad Pro

好吧，也不纯粹是笔记本电脑，但它保留了二合一的电脑设计，也是我们2017年尝试的混合机中最好的。这款新的10.5英寸电脑弥合了媒体消费需求和生产需求，iOS 11和应用程序生态系统的改进使2017年的iPad比之前的Pro Apple平板电脑进步了许多。由于有了绚丽的显示屏、速度极快的A10X Fusion芯片以及Apple Pencil手写笔，iPad Pro足以与苹果自己的笔记本相媲美。在基础配置之外，您只需配上一个好键盘即可。

最佳交通工具：无桩共享单车

共享单车于2008年在美国街头横空出世，当时华盛顿特区推出了一个10个站点、120辆自行车的试点项目。但直到2017年，这个多模态概念才开始得到全面技术支持，才如磁铁吸引螺栓和螺母一样开始吸引风险投资。这一年，共享单车项目摆脱了停车桩的限制，骑车（有希望）开始成为美国的主流。无桩共享单车的使用者用专门的应用程序定位自己的坐骑，用智能手机解锁，可以停在任何他们想要停放的地方。（好吧，不要放到树上。）对于上班族和跑腿的人来说，无桩自行车意味着更便宜、更灵活的骑行方式。对城市来说，这意味着更少的前期基建成本。2017年，中国的摩拜和Ofo公司(都价值30亿美元)分别进入了华盛顿特区和西雅图。美国本土的Limebike公司宣称有100万人次使用其单车，顾客留存率达60%，而且估值2.25亿美元。如果城市可以继续修建自行车道，美国革命蓄势待发。

Best Gaming Device: Nintendo Switch

After a few years in the wilderness,Nintendo returned with a bang in 2017.Bolstering its lackluster console track record with mobile DNA, the hybrid handheld Switch was an instant hit for good reason. What the Switch lacks in pure graphical power, it makes up for in versatility—dock it to a TV for couch co-op, or play single-player games in your window seat as you cross the country at 35,000 feet. Nintendo has successfully brought its signature characters and games into the modern mobile age with this unique device, and it’s done so without sacrificing an iota of its trademark quirkiness.

最佳游戏设备：任天堂Switch

沉寂了几年后，2017年任天堂强势回归。用移动DNA支撑其平淡无奇的控制台路径记录的这款混合手持式Switch有充足的理由瞬间爆红。Switch缺少纯粹的图形功能，但在通用性方面得到了弥补，可以接到电视上，玩沙发合作游戏，也可以在您身处35000英尺的高空中横穿这个国家时，在窗口座位上玩单人游戏。任天堂已经成功地用这种独特的设备，将其标志性的角色和游戏带入了现代移动时代，并且是在毫不牺牲其一贯的奇特风格前提下完成的。

Best Parenting Product: Veer Cruiser

Given how common it is to have two small kids of different ages, it’s surprisingly hard to find an easy-to-use vehicle for toting them around. The Veer Cruiseris an endlessly adaptable strollerwagon hybrid that easily accommodates multiple infants, toddlers and all their gear. It has a telescoping, locking handle for pushing or pulling the load. It’s rugged too, with a sleek, matte black,aluminum chassis on large, airless,knobby tires made for tackling tougher terrain like trails and grassy hills. This go anywhere, do anything human-carrier is our favorite parenting product of the year. If you take the kids out in one,just make sure you remember to pack the snacks.

Best Smart-Home Device: Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat

Even regular thermostats have trouble regulating the temperature in different parts of your house. But the latest unit from Ecobee keeps everything cool(or warm) via wireless remote sensors that monitor rooms individually. Sensors! How obvious and necessary an innovation is that? The Ecobee4 comes with built-in Amazon Alexa Voice service and is compatible with Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings. It’s like installing a virtual home assistant that also automatically monitors your energy usage, tracks local weather via Wi-Fi, can be controlled remotely with an app, and offers access to certified professionals to help with installation. Whew. Sorry, Nest. You’ve got a beautiful dial and all, but the Ecobee4 is the year’s smartest thermostat.

最佳育儿产品: Veer Cruiser

有两个不同年龄小孩的情况十分普遍，考虑到这一点，我们却惊奇地发现很难找到一个好用的车子来推着他们到处跑。Veer Cruiser是一款可无限调节的四轮推车，可以轻松地容纳多个婴儿、学步儿童和他们所有的装备。这款推车有一个可伸缩的锁定把手用来推或拉。推车也很皮实，在真空大粗胎上装一个磨砂黑色流线型铝质底盘，用来应对更复杂的地面，如小路和长满草的山丘。这个可以去任何地方、做任何事情的载人车具是我们2017年最喜欢的育儿产品。如果您打算用这款车带孩子们出去，一定记住带上零食。

最佳智能家居设备: Ecobee4 智能恒温器

即使是常规的恒温器也难以调节房子不同部位的温度。但是，Ecobee最新的装置可以通过无线遥控传感器来分别监控各个房间，使其保持凉爽(或温暖)。传感器！这是多么明显和必要的创新呀！Ecobee4内置亚马逊Alexa语音服务，也兼容谷歌Home、苹果HomeKit和 三 星 SmartThings。就像安装一个虚拟的家庭助手，可以自动监控你的能源使用情况，通过Wi-Fi追踪当地天气，可以通过应用程序远程控制，并提供获得认证的专业人员帮助您安装。哎呀，对不起，Nest。虽说贵公司的恒温器有一个漂亮的表盘，但是Ecobee4才是2017年最智能的恒温器。

Best Cord-Cutting Device: Roku Streaming Stick+

Roku’s latest streaming stick gives any modern television an instant upgrade. A $50 bill gets you the best and most comprehensive smart TV platform out there, with almost every streaming service presented in a clean, voicecontrolled menu. You plug this little stick directly into a TV’s HDMI port. It can handle 4K content, and the antenna has been beefed up this year to offer better throughput over Wi-fiand fewer stutters. Sure, there are a dozen ways to get the internet on your TV, but none of them are as pleasant to use—or offer as wide a range of streaming options—as Roku’s stick.

Best Toy: LittleBits Droid Inventor Kit

Finding the perfect gateway to get kiddos into STEM education is tough.But the Droid Inventor Kit gives younglings a path through the wide cultural portal that is Star Wars. Curious kids get a chance to be a part of the Star Wars universe while dipping their toes in the world of programming. This kit has kids assemble their own R2D2 droid, which they can program to do tricks like send secret voice messages, doodle across a surface, or whiz through an obstacle course. We picked this toy as the year’s best simply because it brings together different elements core to the Wired world: hacking, a DIY ethos, and yes,Star Wars.

最佳掐线设备： Roku电视棒+

Roku最新的电视棒可以让任何现代电视瞬间升级。只要花50美元，您就能拥有最好最全的智能电视平台，几乎所有的流媒体服务都是在一个语音控制的清晰的菜单上呈现出来的。把这个小棒直接插进电视机的HDMI端口就行了。该棒可以处理4K内容，天线功能今年也增强了，可以通过Wi-Fi提供更强的输出功率，而且更流畅。当然，有十几种方法可以让你的电视连上网络，但没有一种能像Roku的电视棒一样使用起来令人愉快，也没有一种能像Roku电视棒这样提供如此多的流媒体服务选择。

最佳玩具: LittleBits机器人发明家套件

要想找到一个让孩子们接受科学技术教育的完美途径是很困难的。但是机器人发明家套件给年轻人指了一条路，让他们可以走进星球大战这个广袤的文化之门。好奇的孩子们可以在编程的世界里小试身手，从而有机会成为星球大战世界的一部分。这个工具包可以让孩子们组装自己的R2D2机器人。他们可以编程让这个机器人玩一些小把戏，比如发送秘密语音信息、在界面上涂鸦或者通过有障碍的路段。我们将其选为年度最佳玩具，只是因为这个玩具把《连线》最看重的不同元素汇集到了一起：黑客攻击、DIY精神，当然还有星球大战。 □