It’s very (very!) easy to get sucked into the allure of a new device. Something new crosses your desk and it’s the best device ever. It can do everything so much faster than your old device! Every. Single. Thing. Everything in your life is improved.

And then a workflow sort of falls apart. Or an app exports just a second or two faster than what you’re used to. Or you take the device somewhere you’ve never taken the device and it doesn’t work out how you expected.

No? That hasn’t happened to you? Fine, dear reader, then it’s happened to me. Over and over.

After all these years, I’m starting to better understand my own honeymoon phases with devices. Sometimes those phases are for a total of three days. Sometimes they last a few weeks. Other times, a few months.

The length of time is generally impacted by the newness of the device. This involves the device’s new features but also the type of device I’m coming from.

I have three honeymoon phases for the last year, each with differing lengths of time:

  • I upgraded from the A12Z March 2020 iPad Pro to the M1 iPad Pro earlier this year. That honeymoon phase lasted about three days. The M1 iPad Pro is almost the exact same iPad as the one before it, with maybe a few improvements by way of the USB-C port and under-the-hood performance improvements which have no bearing on day to day experiences.
  • In October, I upgraded from the iPhone 12 mini to the iPhone 13 Pro. That honeymoon period lasted about three weeks to a month. I hated the iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 13 Pro sports an extra camera, much improved battery life, a better display, and better performance. In nearly all ways I use an iPhone, the iPhone 13 Pro has been an improvement.
  • A few weeks back, I received the M1 Pro MacBook Pro. It enables bringing my computer home, completing my daily duties as an accountant, and completing my side hustle as a writer and photographer. It has a new display, incredible battery life, and incredible performance. I have not yet left the honeymoon phase with this device.

This being said, my MacBook Pro honeymoon phase is starting to wane. I noticed last night I hadn’t checked my RSS feed, my Matter queue, or Apple News once in the last week. My device habits generally fall into the following spheres:

  • iPhone — On-the-go messaging and emailing; checking in on social media feeds; photography (both shooting and casual editing); and quick Google searches to answer a question.
  • iPad — Heavy reading, including news, RSS, and my read-it-later queue; general messaging; more extensive emailing; heavy photo editing; occasional writing; TV show and moving watching; and creative note-taking, drawing, and connective thought.
  • Mac — Heavy work, including all office duties; heavy messaging; heavy emailing; regular writing; deeper research; and occasional TV show and movie watching.

You’ll note I regularly only read on the iPad and you’ll note I regularly only photo edit on the iPad.

During the honeymoon phase, these workflows and spheres tend to intertwine:

  • I will take the iPad to non-iPad places and I’ll complete on-the-go messaging and emailing with the iPad where I would normally do so with the iPhone.
  • I will edit photos on the iPhone where I would normally only touch up and export photos for sharing on the iPhone.
  • I will more heavily write and attempt to work in spreadsheets on the iPad where I would normally only do this on a Mac.
  • I will edit photos and watch TV shows on the MacBook Pro where I would normally do so on the iPad.

The drive to be one of the first catchy reviews of any new device is alluring. It’s also business-driving — nobody reads one-month or two-month reviews of a new device. Heck, in most situations, nobody reads a review that hits airwaves by the time the device hits store shelves. Pre-release reviewers garner all the attention and get all the rewards.

I am trying to be cognizant of when my spheres stop intertwining — when I return to using my iPhone for messaging only, to my iPad for photo editing only, and to my Mac for daily work only.

It’s once these spheres stop being intertwined that the honeymoon phase has started to end.

And it is at this point where I increasingly feel comfortable giving a proper review of a device. It’s at this point where I can hone in on the device spheres and recognize whether or not my experiences have improved or not.

I am totally guilty for writing a review before my honeymoon phase has come to an end. I’ll apologize for that. I’ll also defend it — it’s very easy to write about something you’re excited about.

But I’m going to work on slowing down more and more going forward. I haven’t reviewed the iPhone 13 Pro yet. I anticipate it’ll take me a few months to put together a proper review of the MacBook Pro.

By then, it’ll all be too late.

But at least it’ll be true.