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I'm trying to translate an article which is about wearable smart watches. I don't know what does "augment information" mean and I don't know how to translate bold part as well in the following context :

[snip: (The author, comparing smart watches vs traditional watches and he/she is unsatisfied, because of these expensive smart watches.)]

Another thing is how some of the existing crop of wearables are already semi-smart and augment information our smartphones do not provide. Casio, Timex, Suunto, and other "watch makers," all manufacture highly intelligent wrist computers that do not need to be plugged in on a daily basis. This generation of “smartwatches” feels like a wide array of compromises, middle-of-the-road overall quality and expensive accessories (seriously, $80 for a metal band from Motorola?).

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True, the article appears wrong. The way it should read is

...augment information our smartphones provide.

Good pickup!

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Okay so to start with, what does it mean to augment information?

augment (v.) To make (something) greater by adding to it; increase.

So he's saying the existing crop of wearables are already semi-smart and add to or increase information.

What information?

The information our smartphones don't provide.

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    You can't augment what isn't there. So the writer misused "augment". – Brian Hitchcock Feb 3 '15 at 12:06
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    +1 Brian. The author might have written "augment our information with data a smartphone does not provide." – Tᴚoɯɐuo Feb 3 '15 at 13:31
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    Might have, or should have? I agree that is what the author would have meant to say, if he knew what augment means; but from the excerpt it seems as if the author could not distinguish between "augment" and "supply". – Brian Hitchcock Feb 3 '15 at 14:10
  • If you want, you can see this article here: phonearena.com/news/To-wearable-or-not-to-wearable_id64018 – Hamed Kamrava Feb 3 '15 at 14:44
  • To me, it looks like an edit that didn't go smoothly, such as if he originally wrote "augment smartphone functionality" (e.g., providing messages alerts on your wrist so you don't have to dig the smartphone out of your pocket while driving), and decided that didn't give enough data about what he meant. – A.Beth Feb 3 '15 at 15:25

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