Microsoft demonstrated its upcoming “Mango” Windows Phone 7 update to the media, showing off new features including multitasking, new unified communications capabilities, and improved “live tiles.” Announcing that Acer, Fujitsu, and ZTE are now planning Windows Phones, Redmond also released a freely downloadable Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.1 Beta.
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The “Mango” Windows Phone update, first promised in February by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, enables application multitasking for background processing, audio and file transfer, and fast application switching. Holding a phone’s back button down will provide a card-like view (right) of all running applications.
Several weeks ago, Microsoft sent out invitations to a “VIP preview” of the operating system upgrade on May 24. That followed the initial unofficial revealing of Mango features by the Windows Phone Dev Podcast, plus additional disclosures last week via the official Windows Phone Blog.
At a press conference this morning (a replay of which is embedded below), Microsoft touted the fall release of the Windows Phone 7 upgrade it’s still referring to only via its fruity code-name. (Various publications, ourselves included, have called it “Windows Phone 7.5, but this moniker remains unofficial.) It also released a Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta, with many new features but a modestly incremented 7.1 version number.
Microsoft shows off its upcoming Windows Phone 7 upgrade
(click to play)
Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft, told his audience, “Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more. With Mango, Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort.”
According to Lees, Mango will include “hundreds of new features and improvements” organized around three key themes: easier communications, smarter apps, and the Internet. Microsoft listed the new communications features as follows:
* Threads — Switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation
* Groups — Group contacts into personalized Live Tiles to see the latest status updates right from the Start Screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group
* Deeper social network integration — Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and Mango includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web
* Linked inbox — See multiple email accounts in one linked inbox, where conversations are organized to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail
* Hands-free messaging — Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting
The new application features are said to include:
* App Connect — By connecting apps to search results and deepening their integration with Windows Phone hubs, including Music and Video and Pictures, Mango allows apps to be surfaced when and where they make sense
* Improved Live Tiles — Get real-time information from apps without having to open them; Live Tiles can be more dynamic and hold more information
* Multitasking — Quickly switch between apps in use and allow apps to run in the background, helping to preserve battery life and performance
Internet-centric features are said to include not only the previously announced Internet Explorer 9 web browser, but also:
* Local Scout — Provides hyperlocal search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and activities in an easy-to-use guide.
* Bing on Windows Phone — More ways to search the Web, including Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice so its easy to discover and decide
* Quick Cards — When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps
“Rather than providing blue-link answers, we bring the Internet in this innovative [way] called Quick Cards,” Lees was quoted as explaining by eWEEK’s Nicholas Kolakoswki. In essence, that means a Bing search for something in particular — such as restaurants — will lead the user not to a browser window, but a series of cards with images, access to related applications (in the case of restaurants, Yelps application is a good example), and other information.
According to Microsoft, Mango is “scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall,” and will also be available as a free upgrade to existing Windows Phone 7 users. The company added that Acer, Fujitsu, and ZTE will join those already producing compatible smartphones, while the online Windows Phone Marketplace will be available in 35 countries starting this fall.
In a May 24 posting on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, Matt Bencke (general manager of developer and marketplace for Windows Phone) adds that when Mango is released, there will be a web version of the Windows Phone Marketplace. Along with yet-to-be-disclosed “new features and capabilities,” it will allow customers “to buy and download apps from any PC and send them directly to their phones,” he adds.
Bencke’s posting also summarizes features in the newly released Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.1 Beta as follows:
* Access to calendar and contacts for apps
* Additional sensors; direct camera access, compass & gyro
* Background processing
* Deep linking into apps from notifications and Live Tiles
* Fast application switching
* IE9 web browser control
* Live Tile enhancements: use of back of tiles and ability to update Live Tiles locally
* Local SQL database for structured storage
* Networking / sockets for communications
* New profiler and emulator for testing
* Silverlight 4
* Use of Silverlight + XNA together
New features confirmed
Today’s announcement confirmed Mango goodies that had been previously announced, or at least rumored. One of them is the integration of Microsoft’s SkyDrive into the smartphone operating system’s Office Hub (right).
Other enhancements target email. For example, users will be able to pin a selected email folder — for a specific project, or containing messages from a specific person — to the start screen for quick access.
Mango’s inbox will allow viewing emails by conversation (below). In addition, smartphone users will be able to search connected email servers (e.g. Exchange Server) for older messages that are no longer stored locally, “giving you ready access to all of your email.”
Mango’s conversation view (left) and Lync capabilities (right)
Source: Microsoft
It’s further said Mango will, via a downloadable app, provide unified communications capabilities in conjunction with Microsoft’s Lync product. Users will gain instant messaging plus the ability to see the presence of their co-workers (above right)
Other Mango features confirm those discussed several weeks ago on the Windows Phone Dev Podcast, which, despite its official-sounding name, is produced by third parties — Ryan Lowdermilk, a software consultant for Arxis Technology, and Travis Lowdermilk, a web/database developer for the Kaweah Delta Health Care District. The duo cited “screens we were given” (below) as indicating that the updated smartphone OS will include turn-by-turn navigation, texting via voice recognition, Bing searches via a phone’s camera or microphone, plus improved SkyDrive and Windows Live Messenger integration.
Mango’s turn by turn navigation (left) and podcast support (right)
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Some of the new features in Mango previously highlighted by the Windows Phone Dev podcast will merely bring the Microsoft smartphone operating system into parity with what is already offered by Google’s Android. For example, a turn-by-turn navigation feature (above left) will provide voice guidance while driving, plus maps that can always face north or rotate with the direction of travel. In addition, it’s said, Mango will feature on-device podcast support (above right).
The screens also depict use of Microsoft’s TellMe voice recognition services for hands-free texting (note the “speak” icon in the image at left below). Additionally, they indicated that the operating system will include new Bing Audio and Bing Vision services (below right).
Hands-free texting (left) and audio-visual search (right)
(Click either to enlarge)
Bing Audio search will apparently operate similarly to an existing third-party service, Shazam. Users will be able to hold their phones up to a radio or other device playing recorded music, at which point the search engine will attempt to identify it.
Meanwhile, Bing Vision will apparently be a search service that uses a phone’s camera. It’s said users will be able to scan barcodes, Microsoft Tags, QR codes, CDs, DVDs, and (via optical character recognition), even text.
The IE9 browser in the Mango upgrade to Windows Phone 7 was shown beating the iPhone (left) and Android (far right) in this MIX11 demo
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Further information
More information on the Mango release of Windows Phone 7 can be found on the Windows Phone Blog and on the Windows Phone Facebook page.
Microsoft’s website offers downloads of both the Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.1 Beta and related release notes. (The latter warn that the tools are not compatible with being run in a Windows 7 virtual machine.)