Let's face it - Microsoft Unleashes Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

Windows Phone, as we know it, has an enormous amount of potential, but it's a first-generation operating system. For the first eleven months of its existence, it's lacked many of the common features we've come to enjoy (and take for granted) on Android and iOS, but then again, even those platforms have taken their turn getting the major wrinkles ironed out. So it comes as no surprise that Microsoft's mobile darling -- the innovative rebirth of a weak and faltering Windows Mobile platform that was quickly falling into obscurity -- would need to go through a similar process.

It's finally time for Steve Ballmer & Co. to unleash its major annual update (not counting NoDo here), codenamed Mango, to a litany of devices both old and new. Microsoft has begun rolling out Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango,” the newest version of its smart phone software. Also known as Windows Phone 7.5, the latest build delivers an onslaught of features -- no less than 500, according to Microsoft -- many of them we've been missing dearly. Three months ago we were given the opportunity to preview the new revamp and ogle over its smattering of new capabilities, and it's only proper for us to offer a follow-up with the update's final build. So how does the completely polished version hold up against the mobile juggernauts, not to mention its own first-gen offering?

The features that do make an impact on your everyday smart phone experience, however, do so in a major way. Microsoft's finally incorporating multitasking, social network integration, plenty of much-needed improvements to email and Exchange, new voice dictation features, and plenty more that we'll get into later. In short, Mango is precisely what we wish Windows Phone would've been from the beginning -- a platform that's capable of handling all of our needs, no matter how crazy they may be.

What's new?

Shiny, New Hardware

You may have noticed that almost every Windows Phone launched over the last year has been eerily similar in hardware specs, and most lack any significant customization. Microsoft exerts a lot of control over what equipment runs its star mobile OS (unlike, say, Google), and you're typically hard-pressed to find any large deviance between devices -- with the exception of handsets with physical QWERTY keyboards. None of that has changed with Mango, as Ballmer's Boys require a specific set of components.

All Windows Phone 7.5 devices will include a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU (new devices will use 8x55 or 7x30, though existing ones that use an 8x50 CPU will be supported as well), DirectX graphics hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D, a minimum of 384MB of RAM, at least 4GB of flash memory, WVGA (800 x 480) display resolution, a 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b / g support (n is optional), FM radio, Bluetooth and at least four required sensors (with more optional). hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D, a minimum of 384MB of RAM, at least 4GB of flash memory, WVGA (800 x 480) display resolution, a 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b / g support (n is optional), FM radio, Bs changed with Mango, as Ballmer's Boys require a specific set of components. Bluetooth and at least four required sensors (with more optional).

User Interface

One of Mango's more impressive feats is the fact that even with its myriad new features and functionality, it's nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor if you don't know exactly what to look for. This is because Microsoft's managed to preserve the signature Windows Phone look -- also known as Metro UI -- complete with two columns of tiles on the Start screen and the full alphabetical listing of apps after a quick swipe to the left. While the size and placement of these tiles haven't changed, the content displayed within them has; many of the native tiles contain more viewable information, and even third-party apps are able to turn their small bit of real estate into a live tile capable of being updated dynamically.

Email and messaging

One of the greatest weaknesses of the platform previously -- email and messaging -- is now a strength, as Microsoft shows it can play ball with the big boys. In with Mango is a linked email inbox, which lets you combine multiple email accounts into one consolidated tile. The concept of a universal inbox is one that's been done on most mobile operating systems at this point, but Windows Phone added a twist: instead of forcing all of your email accounts into the same box, you can pick and choose exactly which ones you'd like together. Prior to Mango, the system was inefficient and inconvenient -- it used up a tile for each individual account, taking up extra space and wasting our time by making us flip through separate boxes (although if tiles are your thing, you can pin specific email folders to the Start screen so you can go directly to that folder). Needless to say, this is a mammoth improvement and one of our favorite features in Mango.

Social Network integration

If we had to pick and choose talking points for the Mango update, its ability to integrate social network content with many of the platform 's other key features would be near the top of the list. In essence, your phone is now littered with plenty of ways to interact with your friends and family via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

We weren't able to test out twitter integration in our preview builld -- unfortunate since it's also the service we use the most -- so it goes without saying that we were pretty eager to see how well it played nice with Mango in relation to Facebook. In the new update, bits and pieces of Twitter are woven into several native apps such as the Me Hub, People Hub and camera app (more on that later).

Multitasking

Another area that was half-baked when we first played with it was multitasking, the oh-so-sweet word that penetrated the hearts and souls of phone geeks everywhere when it was first announced for Mango. Its convenience is undeniable: it's immensely frustrating when we can't save our spot in a game when a phone call comes in and go directly back to that same place after the conversation is done. We get flustered when streaming internet radio and aren't able to keep the music going as we surf the web or perform other tasks on our phones. We also like to quickly switch apps without needing to go back home.

Groups

We touched upon the idea of groups earlier, but want to add a dash of focus on exactly what it brings to the table. It's a novel concept that's been overlooked by competing mobile platforms, and so simple we can't help but wonder why it hasn't been implemented before.

Mango gives you the ability to organize Groups within your People Hub -- whether it be family, co-workers, or particular cliques that you hang out with -- and interact with them all at the same time as if you were all meeting together in the same room. When a group is created, it shows up as its very own Hub, complete with three pivot screens that show live tiles for each individual member, notifications and pictures; here, you have the chance to email or text the entire group, or even pull up and comment / like their latest facebook or Twitter updates without being distracted by other random statuses. You can also pin the group Hub to the Start screen, and the dynamic live tiles will bring up the latest notifications as well as pictures of each person

Marketplace

Marketplace -- as it appears on the phone -- has remained mostly unchanged since the preview build; podcasts can be downloaded directly from the device, the drop-down menu appears as you type in a Marketplace search, and the app can be accessed from the web. The Web Marketplace, as it's being called, behaves in a much similar way to the Android online Market: pick out an app or song that interests you and it will automatically install on your device. You can also witness your purchase history and reinstall any apps you may have accidentally lost or purposely deleted.
There is, however, another feature that we didn't see previously: hidden apps. When a company wants to dole out an app to its employees for internal use, it naturally doesn't want the average Joe to find and download it. The company can therefore "hide" an app so it doesn't show up on the public catalog, and is only accessible through a "deep link" URL that can be distributed to only those who need to download it.

Camera

As mentioned before, every program in Windows Phone has been enhanced to be more customizable and increase the user's experience -- and the camera app is no different. It was already supremely easy to access, as it was designed to get you to the camera as quick as possible whenever an important capture-worthy moment's taking place. But the app was still dreadfully basic, so a few improvements were thrown in to give it a little more pizazz.

Earlier versions of Windows Phone would lose your settings upon exiting the camera app. This was a source of frustration, especially for video recording, where the camera would always revert back from 720p to VGA resolution. Mango remedies this by including a "Save settings" option in the camera menu. There's also the option to restore the default settings, should you get carried away tweaking things. We're also big fans of the two-stage camera button required on all Windows Phone handsets, but sometimes it's better to avoid the potential motion blur associated with pressing a physical key. To this end, Mango introduces an on-screen shutter button -- just tap anywhere in the viewfinder to take a picture. Sadly, there's no touch-to-focus support, and the camera only focuses on what's in the middle of the screen.

Bing Gets Fun

A quick press of the dedicated search button on the bottom right of every Windows Phone will take you into Bing Search, and Mango has added several enhancements to this area in a handy little toolbar at the bottom. The first is the aforementioned Local Scout, followed by Bing Music Search and Bing Vision. Bing Music is essentially Shazam: press the button, allow it 10 seconds or so to listen to the music, and boom -- you're shown results that list artist, song title and cover art. You can even proceed to the Marketplace if you love the tune so much you want to buy it.

Enhanced Microsoft Office

For some mysterious reason, Office and Exchange were two areas that weren't given the time of day in the first version of WP7. Sure, Office was there, but there was very little Exchange and Skydrive support (you could access OneNote docs on SkyDrive, but nothing else), and it felt more like a basic doc creator that had a difficult time keeping up with third-party apps like Quick office and Docs to Go.

SkyDrive plays a much more important role in the Office now, as you can now easily sync every type of document -- Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote -- between your phone and the cloud. Same goes with any folders that have been shared with you. All of this, in addition to Office 365 and SharePoint docs, can be found in the brand new Locations panel within the Office app.

Word and Excel together offer nine new document templates to help create your docs faster. Word now supports copy / paste and the ability to add comments to specific words or phrases, while Excel offers quick formulas such as sum, max, min and average. But what about Power Piont? There's not much in the way of improvements here, aside from smoother transitions between slides and better text rendering.

Wrap-up

Steve B all members said it himself -- Windows Phones sales haven't exactly been stellar. And it's not exactly the biggest surprise, considering the type of rebuilding phase Microsoft's mobile OS has gone through over the last few years. Swapping a platform used by millions with something more "youthful and fresh" isn't going to earn customers and praise overnight, especially when it's a brand new ecosystem that has to start from scratch. We've said before that Mango is the OS that should've come out last year to give Windows Phone relevance in the market, and it's true -- but it's understandable that the company was nowhere near ready to push such a sophisticated platform out. There just wasn't enough time. But it's a much different landscape now for Windows Phone, and Mango is a better fit than its predecessor. The major update took less than a year to make it out, an impressive feat for the overhaul that was involved. Additionally, the Marketplace now supports 30,000 apps and is growing at an explosive pace which will likely speed up as the platform becomes more popular and developer-friendly.

Miscellaneous improvements

Custom ringtones

Internet Sharing

Video chat

Connect to hidden WiFi networks

Battery saver

Internet Explorer 9

Thanks for reading... please share your ideas with me as well.

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