I recently posted my review of the iPhone 13 Pro, which I thought was a fun review, but didn’t rack up the same number of views as I had hoped it would. When I mentioned this on Twitter, someone mentioned that they expected people were burned out on reviews of the phone already, so they weren’t looking for another one. They were totally right, too! I personally watched a bunch of reviews of the new iPhones when the embargo dropped, but I’ve skipped the rest in my feed that happened after the embargoed ones dropped.

Why Reviews are Hard for Smaller Reviewers

I saw this post by Matt Birchler earlier today and it struck a chord with me and I replied to his post on Micro.blog but also wanted to share it here because it’s something I’d like to see more of in the review world.

Everyone and their 7th cousin is out there writing unboxing and Hot Takes™ on the new things.

Who is out there writing the “I’ve had this a week or a month and here’s how it feels” posts?
What about Here’s the X things I felt right when I got it. And here’s how I feel now after using it for a 2 weeks?

The world is flooded with people giving their First Looks. But there’s much less real world experiences. How does it actually feel to use day-to-day. Maybe it’s because the views aren’t there for it? Or maybe it’s not sexy because the First Lookers have already abandoned their device for the New Thing™.

I don’t have an answer but the first one out of the gate can tell me what I can see with my own eyes. I want something more.

  • Tell me what annoys you that you did not think would matter?
  • Tell me about a feature you were excited for but haven’t used since Day 1?
  • Tell me about something you didn’t know about and how can’t live without?
  • Tell me something that made you smile.
  • Tell me something that made you mad.
  • What’s something you didn’t know about until a friend’s friend told you? Or you saw in a Tiktok comment on an unrelated video that changed everything for you?

There’s such a gold rush to be first and earliest and loudest out of the gate. But you’re also saying the same thing as everyone else. Give me your impressions as a consumer.

At the end of the day, I trust and enjoy the reviews of people people with devices instead of the Tech Reviewers who have already moved on to the next device, computer, phone, gadget.