Windows Phone 7: Mango Release Date
Microsoft this Tuesday unveiled Mango, the next Windows Phone 7 version (codename). According to the company there are over 500 different features in this version. First details, SDK download and release date infos after the break.
Mango Release Date
Microsoft has not announced an official Mango release date, but the release date is currently scheduled for summer 2011. We’ll keep you posted when Microsoft announces an official Mango release date.
Download Mango SDK
A beta developer kit for Mango is now available. You can download the Windows Phone 7.1 SDK beta over at http://create.msdn.com/
Windows Phone 7 Update Called Mango Introduces over 500 New Features
- Background processing
- New profiler and emulator for testing
- Use of Silverlight + XNA together
- Silverlight 4
- IE9 web browser control
- Live Tile enhancements: use of back of tiles and ability to update Live Tiles locally
- Deep linking into apps from notifications and Live Tiles
- Additional sensors; direct camera access, compass & gyro
- Fast application switching
- Networking / sockets for communications
- Local SQL database for structured storage
- Access to calendar and contacts for apps
Microsoft announced Mango has over 500 new features. For existing users of Windows Phone 7, this will be a free of charge upgrade. It will be available on newly shipping Windows Phone 7 devices this fall. However, they have not detailed out the timing and the devices for update yet. That will come later. They are also going to announce the official name for the update later this year.
Microsoft clarified that these 500 features comprise of all the new features for all users of Windows Phone 7. There are three main categories – end users, IT administrators and developers. It will be using IE 9 but security fears have been allayed saying that the Windows Phone 7 has been built with security in mind and hence browser attacks won’t be as successful on this platform as on others.
The Mango update is highly anticipated because it is the first follow up to Microsoft’s total shift in their mobile OS strategy. So people are eager to see what they get up to this time.
Maribel Lopez, principal analyst and founder of Lopez Research exclaimed that 500 new features would actually make it a whole new OS. According to her, it is more about appeasing everyone by giving out all the common features that people have come to want.
I can’t wait! I hope they do custum ringtones, themes, adobe flash, and more live tiles!
Custom ringones: there’s an API for marking an MP3 as a ringtone. If you’re a developer custom ringtones are possible. Expect a flood of free apps to do this.
Themes: I’ve already seen how-to articles.
Adobe Flash: not now, not ever.
Live tiles: radically extended.
@Oliver – don’t use seasons as dates. Not everyone lives in the northern hemisphere. Summer 2011 was three months ago.
I would love it if you could resize tiles so you could have 3 or 4 across the screen. And a way to create folders to organise apps and other items that at the moment make a huge long list. Just a bit more customising ability across the whole platform really. What does anyone else think?
Well having the HTC Hd7 WP7 for a while now, i fine it to be the worst operating systems ever, and if the new update does not come with Adobe flash “well then it has not changed nothing then to what i already have” The only reason i still have the phone is because i cant get rid of it and it did cost me a arm and a leg. And yes John i agree with you i do hope they will work on the list you have mentioned.
Silverlight is so much more stable than Flash…
Will probably get a Windows Phone 7 with Mango on it too. Would rather get that than an iPhone. Nokia and Microsoft will pull it off and Apple will go down. Overhyped, overpriced.
Still not gonna be able to send video messaging?
While Mango will NOT support Adobe Flash, it will support HTML5 video, and videoconferencing (thanks to sockets and direct camera access)
why do all wp7 users hate on Apple and Android products? every time wp7 improves I see a flood of comments about “taking down” Apple and becoming the new Android. screw that. Microsoft is improving this product for us, isn’t that good enough? my main problem with the iPhone is that everyone has it… i love windows phone’s operating system, but the reason i bought the hd7 in the first place was to be different. id hate to see windows phones become hugely popular, i like it how it is now.
Does anybody know if Mango will allow you to search your contacts by “company name” – that functionality was lost with Windows Phone but had it before. I am hoping that will be restored as it is very basic but extremely important for those of us in business.
@ swagswagswag
I agree with you. I think WP7 is almost everything I wanted in a phone (cant wait for Mango though). Iphones and Androids frustrated me in some areas that WP7 seems to have done right.
It is not very common for the fanboy comments to come from real experience, otherwise there would not be as much hating. I find merrits in all platforms but after that it comes down to personal prefference. Going forward, it will come down to those platforms that are a bit more open, more standards compliant and support an ecosystem that can span platforms. Because we all have personal preferences, it does not mean we WANT to put walls between us based on the OS of choice. I would rather see more interoperability so I can, for instance, have a video chat between two platforms. Those who ignore this in the future will be the one lagging behind.
Call me silly but as much as I love the WP7 OS and the so called underdog analogy I am highly in favor of Windows based phone taking off into the mainstream such as iPhone and Android so we can have the apps that should be made for WP7 as well. But wont be until it is more mainstream.
wp7 is the best OS build… Yes,it does lack features but its better than android..maybe will take over ios but not so soon.. hd7 is a good handset ,very diff… nd trust me..its touch is much bettr than ip4 … mango will be a bigg hit on w7 handsets.!!!