Apple Intelligence so far
Sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me and I do things I probably shouldn’t, Like installing a beta version of an OS on my iPhone. This year's iOS update is unique in that the primary selling features for the new iPhones aren’t even available yet. At least not outside of developer and public betas.
Aesthetics
I do like some of the new layout options. You can now place your apps almost anywhere on the screen and you have more options regarding how the apps look. I won't go into detail since this information has been reported basically everywhere. I stuck with dark mode and made my app icons extra large. This removes the name of the apps below the icons. I don't need them anyway.
Siri
Siri sounds better and is a little faster to respond but none of the new intelligence features are in the 18.1 update. I also like being able to type a query instead of speaking it.
Overall it's a small taste of what's to come with further updates. You can use AI to rewrite text for you in places like emails, notes, or iMessage. I'm finding the results are very hit-or-miss.