7 Hottest Features In Windows Phone 7 Mango 2
Microsoft this week shipped its Windows Phone "Mango" update to phone makers--adding key features to the smartphone OS that Microsoft is pitting against Apple iPhone and Google Android. Check out this visual tour of seven significant new functions.
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Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 to considerable hype in October 2010. Initial reaction was mostly lukewarm. Pundits praised the unique, "Live Tiles" interface that pushes real-time feeds from social networks and other services directly to the startup screen. But beyond that, there was a consensus that the platform offered little else new compared to rival offerings-and it was significantly lacking in some crucial areas--most notably multitasking. That may partly explain why, by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's own admission, Windows Phone 7 has struggled. "In a year, we've gone from very small to ... very small" in market share, Ballmer said at the company's recent Worldwide Partner conference in Los Angeles. Microsoft hopes to change that with the Mango update. Mango adds the long-awaited multitasking. It lets users move freely between applications and pick up and resume where they left off without having to restart the app. For instance, a user playing a game that's interrupted by a phone call could take the call, then switch back to the game at the point where he left off. A new addition to the interface lets users check app states and select those that are currently running. Windows Phone needs multitasking just to keep up with Android and Apple's iOS, both of which have already implemented the feature.
Web browsing is enhanced with native support for Internet Explorer 9, which on Windows Phone, as on the desktop, supports hardware-accelerated graphics rendering. That means games and videos, and other multimedia content authored in HTML5, should be much snappier when accessed through IE9 mobile on a Mango-equipped phone.
Mango gives Windows Phone 7 native support for 4G wireless speeds. There's no confirmation, but it's rumored that one of the first vendors to introduce 4G on a WP7 smartphone will be Samsung, which currently offers the Focus on the AT&T network. AT&T offers 4G service on its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband network.
A new feature called Threads lets users glide between text, Windows Live Messenger, and Facebook chat within the same "conversation." Multiple feeds from those services are displayed on a single screen, allowing individuals to jump back and forth for cross-network texting, chat, and messaging.
Local Scout, which is integrated with Bing, yields hyper-local search results for restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. The service adds a local search icon to Bing on Windows Phone, employing GPS tracking to determine a user's location. A search on restaurants, for instance, would yield information on dining establishments in, say, New York City's Tribeca neighborhood if that's where the user happened to be.
Microsoft will pay $8.5 billion to acquire Skype under a deal announced in May. With that kind of money in play, the company wants to embed the VoIP service into as many of its products as possible, including Windows Phone 7. With Mango, users will be able to launch a Skype session through their phones, though Microsoft to date has provided few details beyond that.
Microsoft hasn't forgotten business users with Mango. The update will provide a direct connection to the company's new cloud-based Office 365 productivity suite. That means users can get access to their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files anywhere, anytime, as long as they have phone service. Whether this and the other new features that Mango adds to Windows Phone 7 are enough to make the platform viable remains to be seen. The jury will remain out until Microsoft's partnership with Nokia is fully implemented. If the world's biggest phone manufacturer by volume can't give Windows Phone 7 traction, maybe nothing can.
Microsoft hasn't forgotten business users with Mango. The update will provide a direct connection to the company's new cloud-based Office 365 productivity suite. That means users can get access to their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files anywhere, anytime, as long as they have phone service. Whether this and the other new features that Mango adds to Windows Phone 7 are enough to make the platform viable remains to be seen. The jury will remain out until Microsoft's partnership with Nokia is fully implemented. If the world's biggest phone manufacturer by volume can't give Windows Phone 7 traction, maybe nothing can.
Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 to considerable hype in October 2010. Initial reaction was mostly lukewarm. Pundits praised the unique, "Live Tiles" interface that pushes real-time feeds from social networks and other services directly to the startup screen. But beyond that, there was a consensus that the platform offered little else new compared to rival offerings-and it was significantly lacking in some crucial areas--most notably multitasking. That may partly explain why, by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's own admission, Windows Phone 7 has struggled. "In a year, we've gone from very small to ... very small" in market share, Ballmer said at the company's recent Worldwide Partner conference in Los Angeles. Microsoft hopes to change that with the Mango update. Mango adds the long-awaited multitasking. It lets users move freely between applications and pick up and resume where they left off without having to restart the app. For instance, a user playing a game that's interrupted by a phone call could take the call, then switch back to the game at the point where he left off. A new addition to the interface lets users check app states and select those that are currently running. Windows Phone needs multitasking just to keep up with Android and Apple's iOS, both of which have already implemented the feature.
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