We’ve been bringing you news on iOS 6 as we hear it ahead of its public release in the fall. Another new feature that has now come to light is a Wi-Fi Plus Cellular option and this should satisfy many users who have grabbed a WiFi hotspot for connection only to see it choke. The Wi-Fi Plus Cellular option means that your iPhone will switch back to using cellular data on these occasions, killing off those bog downs that can sometimes occur.
The new feature in iOS 6 will automatically spot any hiccups in a WiFi network and toggle your device back to using cellular data, enabling apps to continue syncing. The feature has been detected in the latest iOS 6 beta and we reckon this is something that many users would find beneficial if it comes to the finished version of iOS 6. If it does make the final release then users will be likely to find this feature under General>Cellular and enable their devices to use cellular data for apps when there is trouble with Wi-Fi so that iTune purchases, Reading Lists and iCloud documents for example, can be kept up to date.
News of this new feature came to us from Apple Insider and similarly users of the iPhone 4S with FaceTime toggle will be able to avoid drops when using FaceTime conference calls. However a drawback to this concerns how different carriers will charge for cellular data for FaceTime, which remains to be seen. We did tell recently though of conjecture that AT&T could be about to start charging for this with iOS 6.
It’s a step forward from Apple though as it seeks to optimize the customer usage experience although we’ll look forward to learning all the finer details. What are your thoughts on the new Wi-Fi Plus Cellular option that is currently in the beta version of iOS 6? Are you keen to see it come to the final version for public release? Send your comments to let us know.