It's a nice little feature, but not really a huge improvement over what was already possible in previous iOS versions if you set up your personal hotspot in a particular way. Specifically, if you have Bluetooth turned on and wifi turned off when you turn on Personal Hotspot, then the hotspot will only be available over Bluetooth. This way you can leave Personal Hotspot turned on, and even if you turn wifi back on the hotspot will only be available over Bluetooth. Then rather then connect via the Airport (wifi) menu on your Mac with Instant Hotspot, you connect via the Bluetooth menu.
You leave Personal Hotpot turned on on your phone, but it's not really doing anything until your computer connects via Bluetooth (which also has to be on for Instant Hotspot to work). The only differences appears to be that Instant Hotspot using iCloud accounts rather then Bluetooth pairing (which only needs to be done once) to authenticate the connection, and the data connection is over Bluetooth rather than wifi. I haven't noticed much difference if data speed when using Bluetooth to tether vs wifi. The limiting factor is the cell connection, even on my LTE iPhone 5S.
Instant Hotspot will be easier to use/understand for those who didn't realize you could configure your Personal Hotspot in this manner, but I'd still probably prefer my current method. Data over Bluetooth seems to drain the battery less, and you aren't broadcasting a wifi network what will show up on other devices in the area (I assume if Instant Hotspot is active your wifi SSID, which is your iPhone name, is still broadcast?).
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It's a nice little feature, but not really a huge improvement over what was already possible in previous iOS versions if you set up your personal hotspot in a particular way. Specifically, if you have Bluetooth turned on and wifi turned off when you turn on Personal Hotspot, then the hotspot will only be available over Bluetooth. This way you can leave Personal Hotspot turned on, and even if you turn wifi back on the hotspot will only be available over Bluetooth. Then rather then connect via the Airport (wifi) menu on your Mac with Instant Hotspot, you connect via the Bluetooth menu.
You leave Personal Hotpot turned on on your phone, but it's not really doing anything until your computer connects via Bluetooth (which also has to be on for Instant Hotspot to work). The only differences appears to be that Instant Hotspot using iCloud accounts rather then Bluetooth pairing (which only needs to be done once) to authenticate the connection, and the data connection is over Bluetooth rather than wifi. I haven't noticed much difference if data speed when using Bluetooth to tether vs wifi. The limiting factor is the cell connection, even on my LTE iPhone 5S.
Instant Hotspot will be easier to use/understand for those who didn't realize you could configure your Personal Hotspot in this manner, but I'd still probably prefer my current method. Data over Bluetooth seems to drain the battery less, and you aren't broadcasting a wifi network what will show up on other devices in the area (I assume if Instant Hotspot is active your wifi SSID, which is your iPhone name, is still broadcast?).