Vodafone brings WiFi calling to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
Bringing the grand total of compatible handsets to... four.
Vodafone launched its seamless WiFi calling service in early autumn, opting for a native experience over the kind of apps O2 and Three use. For several months, only iPhone 6s and 6s Plus owners have actually been able to use the feature, but today the carrier announced it's added Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge to the list of compatible handsets (as long as you got yours from Vodafone directly). While it's good news for a subset of customers, it also highlights the sluggish rate at which native WiFi calling is being made available across the network. In the three-plus months since switching on the service, Vodafone has managed to enable the feature on a grand total of four handsets.
To be fair, EE isn't exactly setting a record pace itself. The provider was the first to launch app-free WiFi calling back in April, meaning it's had a good few months to bake the feature in to roughly 20 different handsets. Most relatively new phones support native WiFi calling, but only when a carrier gets round to issuing the requisite software update will it become available. WiFi calling is a simple but useful feature, and native integration has promised to be streets ahead of app-based approaches. So far, however, we can't say that's really rung true. Is it better to have a seamless experience only a certain proportion of your customers can use, or an app that's available to everyone?
