The Mango update for Windows Phone 7 is now official. It promises 500 new features including multi-tasking and improved social network integration to include Twitter and LinkedIn.This update will be available for existing devices for free and will be available on all new phones released this fall. Alongside Nokia who will be releasing Windows Phone devices, we will also see devices from Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE.
Some of the new features of the Mango update to Windows Phone include:
- Additional language support - Windows Phone will offer support to new languages, thus promising a wider reach than it had before.
- Multitasking - Windows Phone will offer multi tasking, allowing users to switch and select between their applications.
- Threads - Windows Phone will feature threaded messaging. With threads, SMS will be combined with Facebook and Windows Live allowing users to keep all their chat history in one place.
- Text-to-speech - SMS dictating features will be offered on Windows Phone, offering a full hands free experience.
- Social Networking - Social Network integration has been improved, now offering Twitter and LinkedIn integration. Facebook features like check-in and photo tagging are now built into Windows Phone. Users can tag groups of people as live tiles and monitor their friends activity.
- Live Tiles - The live tiles have been improved to show more information.
- Internet Explorer 9 - Windows Phone will feature the desktop experience of IE9 on handsets, including hardware acceleration.
- App Improvements - third party applications have overall improved core experience. Apps will be included in search allowing you to quickly access the apps you need.
- Bing Services - Microsoft has expanded their Bing services, giving Windows Phone users the ability to directly compete with Google alternates:
- Bing Vision - Offers a similar experience to Google Goggles allowing you to search content on the web using images or barcodes.
- Music Search
- Voice Search
- Quick Cards - Which offers information on specific item including apps related to that item
- Local Scout - Is a Places alternate which allows you to see nearby - shops, restaurants or activities.
Check out the video which follows, for a quick summary of the features mentioned above: