Whether Apple cares or not is really not material. There is still a legal responsibility to abide by the agreement as has been upheld by every court in the land forever. Probably no more serious than jaywalking, but it is against the law.
Then there is that matter of breaking ones word. I really don’t understand the difference between a beta NDA and any of the other background NDA’s. In my experience, the wording is mostly the same.
-Al-
Actually, one can sign up here now: https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ and the NDA can be read here: https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/legal.
-Al-
And I fully appreciate that and understand why you must bend the rules in order to stay competitive. Apple helped out by allowing anything revealed at WWDC as OK. I’d even go so far as to say that elucidating on new features announced and then observed by the editors aren’t much of a stretch.
What I don’t feel comfortable with is detailed discussions involving bugs observed or features being tried that were not made public. Apple deserves first crack at these without wide public scrutiny, so that they can be fixed or appropriately adjusted before release. Such discussions will inevitably cause unnecessary concern amongst users at release time about issues which no longer exist.
-Al-
I think you’ve pretty much identified our opinion, Al. It’s difficult not to write about things when they’re so public, but that’s different than saying “This beta feature is buggy in these specific ways.” Of course it is, it’s a beta! 
Public Beta is now apparently out.
This is the one beta I installed. First impressions, my SE is noticeably nippier. The Screentime feedback will have a huge impact I think.
That’s interesting. My wife’s SE is noticeably faster than my 6 even on iOS 11. Sounds like iOS 12 could really be a good update for my 6.
I’d actually rather buy an updated SE for myself, but since that doesn’t appear to be happening, I guess I’ll take the update instead. 
Yes, I’m holding out for an SE2 myself. I was tempted by the X but the size of the SE works for me.
The SE should be faster than the 6, it’s a newer phone with the same Apple “A9” processor as the 6s (vs. the “A8” in the iPhone 6) and has twice the RAM.
I’m not considering replacing my phone this year but even after almost two years with the iPhone 7, I’m interested in a future iPhone with a smaller form factor, like the SE (I had the 5s before the 7).
There are rumors we might see a new one this year. Here’s a potential clue: in the iOS 12 betas you don’t need 3D Touch to use trackpad mode on the iPhone. Instead, you can press and hold the Space bar to move the cursor around.
I’ve had the 6 since it came out and a 4 before that. After all these years with the 6 I still cannot get used to the size of it. I cannot effectively use it one handed since my thumb cannot reach the other side of the screen. And that of course means the X would be even worse.
OTOH I’m not willing to buy a phone with almost 3-year old internals for almost $500. If they just jacked up the specs (and maybe tweaked the camera) I’d be perfectly happy with an SE2. Until then though, I’m not spending another $ on an iPhone.
Yeah, I was much too terse there. Obviously the SE with its 6s internals should be faster than the 6. What I actually meant to say was that I really noticed that while in iOS 10 the two felt rather similar in terms of fluid UI, now in iOS 11 there is a substantial difference. The 6 lags while the SE is still usable. The 6 also gets a lot hotter at times so iOS 11 is definitely putting more strain on the hardware and the SE with its better specs seems to handle that a lot better. If iOS 12 taxes the hardware less for regular UI activity I could imagine the 6 will benefit a lot.
Of course none of that would change the fact that the SE still has the better radios, gets better wifi reception, and is much more stable when it comes to tethering. In its day, the SE was really one heck of a deal.
That’s interesting, Josh.
We’ve heard a lot of rumors about the SE but so far nothing has materialized. What rumors cannot seem to stop emphasizing though is this shift towards a low-end model that’s actually even larger than the X. This 6.1" monster LCD “iPhone for the masses” that they keep talking about.
Incidentally, that model—in order to come in at a lower price—is rumored to come without 3D touch. That could also be the reason for the observation you made in the iOS 12 PB.
It sometimes seems like Apple has lost the urge to do really small products with high end specs. There is no more Core i7 mini. The are no upgrades to the SE. iPad mini dev is basically dead. The one product where Apple still tries to do good specs in a svelte package (the iMac Pro is sure thin, but I don’t consider 27" exactly small) is the 13" MBP. I hope that one’s not next. And I definitely hope you’re right, Josh, and we will see an updated SE in the not too distant future. But even according to the most optimistic rumors it doesn’t sound like earlier than March 2019 though.
Agreed! Bought three of them on sale one Thanksgiving for family members. Best purchase in a long time.
I envy you. 
I should have done the same thing. At the time the SE came out I already felt that the 6 was too big for me. I should have switched back then. Instead I held onto my 6 and watched my wife trade in her 4 for an SE. She’s loved it ever since.
[Oops, seems we’ve inadvertently sidetracked the thread. Sorry about that, Adam. iOS 12 definitely deserves a thread of its own. Feel free to split off the iPhone hardware stuff into a new thread, Adam.]
Screentime (on my SE…) is interesting for sure.
I am off Twitter and Instagram for the Summer, something I do each year, drop social media (I left FB after one of these, two summers ago) so it’s a little skewed from my normal.
I pick up (and presumably unlock the screen) every 17 minutes on average. And I spend the vast majority of my time on it reading. New York Times, Irish Times, Safari.
Photos and Camera were the next down the list.
I’m curious to set limits on social media or prompts using Downtime and I’m wondering how far we will get with our daughter and our new ability to monitor her usage… hmmm.
Notifications reporting is welcome too but I have that mostly under control already.
On the topic of device size, I’ll offer a little counterintuitive device: if you prefer the SE size, you may like a Plus-sized phone. The iPhone 6 was something of a sour spot for me, just big enough to be hard to hold. I loved how the 7 Plus fit in my hand, which required a different grip. I don’t like the feel of the X as much as my wife’s 8 Plus, but it’s still much more comfortable than the 6, especially with the leather case.
Does iOS 12 really display Waze or Google maps on a car display with Carplay?
That’s what they say, but I’m guessing we’ll have to wait until after the official release before those apps support it.
2nd PB out. I really like the reports about the revamped Maps. And over on the MR threads people are reporting really great GUI performance. 