Like many of you I’ve read a bunch of iPad Mini reviews. I’ve even walked in to my local electronics shop and played with it for 20 minutes. My short impression matches with the reviews I’ve read. It’s a great small device and I could see myself not using my iPad 2 much if I had an iPad Mini.

None of the reviews I’ve read are real iPad reviews yet though.

So What is a Real Review?

A real iPad review will be written in a few months. Once someone has taken the time to really get the iPad Mini ingrained in their life day to day. Only then will they truly know what (if anything) it is useful for. Only then will they know how the iPad Mini might suit their workflow better than the regular iPad. Now the Mini is all the hotness and there is some placebo effect of the new device for every writer, no matter how objective. I’m not saying they mean to be influenced, it’s just human nature to be swayed a bit by new hotness.

Real reviews aren’t just tied to the iPad or even hardware though. Any software, or hardware can only be truly judged after some real use. When you’ve worked it in to your life and found all the short comings, or lack of short comings, can you really give a proper review.

I don’t think we see many of these because of the length of time it takes to do them. I’ve just decided to give Sublime Text 2 a solid chance. I think that takes a month of me really using it for everything and learning how to use the editor. That’s a long term investment before I even know if it’s going to pay off.

Most people just don’t have that kind of time to invest in the rush to be ‘first’ out the door.