WP7 Mango update coming early!

[smartpatrol]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/microsoft-announces-windows-phone-mango-update-early-and-in/

Microsoft announced today the new version for Windows Phone called Mango that will bring over 500 new features that exceed the user experience of smartphones, communication, and Internet applications. The new version will be freely available to all terminals with Windows Phone and can be downloaded at the beginning of this autumn.

EDIT: looks like it was a mistranslation. Early autumn it is Sorry for the confusion.

At any rate, that link has a nice list of the new features coming with mango.

 

[dougp]

Just saw this - and it says it'll be freely available, so a standalone download would be awesome.

 

[RedRooster]

I'm so hoping its closer to September than December. A mere 4 months and we'll have the best smartphone OS on the market. Can't wait to try it all out!

 

[Red Storm]

Is there a list of these 500 new features?

 

[foghorn67]

lol, I used to work with someone on his contact lists.

 

[KentState]

Watched the video, but fail to see how any of this will make my life easier/better over and iPhone or Android. MS has to do a lot more to impress me besides being another alternative OS.

 

[Deeko]

Watched the video, but fail to see how any of this will make my life easier/better over and iPhone or Android. MS has to do a lot more to impress me besides being another alternative OS.

The OS already has its distinct advantages - very smooth, polished UI, integration with other Microsoft services (xbox/zune/office). Mango does a good job of enhancing those things (deeper xbox integration, office SkyDrive support beyond OneNote), as well as filling in the gaps where they lagged the competition (better multitasking, better browsing, native twitter/facebook/linkedin, navigation, app results in search results, much-needed additions to the SDK for devs).

The result is an OS that can certainly rival iOS or Android, if not best it, depending on your priorities. I carry a Vibrant and a Venue Pro at all times, and while the Vibrant does more right now - pretty much everything the Venue Pro does, it does better. And Mango will significantly shrink the gap between what WP7 can do.

 

[dougp]

The OS already has its distinct advantages - very smooth, polished UI, integration with other Microsoft services (xbox/zune/office). Mango does a good job of enhancing those things (deeper xbox integration, office SkyDrive support beyond OneNote), as well as filling in the gaps where they lagged the competition (better multitasking, better browsing, native twitter/facebook/linkedin, navigation, app results in search results, much-needed additions to the SDK for devs).

The result is an OS that can certainly rival iOS or Android, if not best it, depending on your priorities. I carry a Vibrant and a Venue Pro at all times, and while the Vibrant does more right now - pretty much everything the Venue Pro does, it does better. And Mango will significantly shrink the gap between what WP7 can do.

I'm curious - what does your Vibrant do better than your VP?

 

[Deeko]

I'm curious - what does your Vibrant do better than your VP?

Not better - more. The Venue Pro does things better, but the Vibrant can do more. The two things on the Vibrant I use most are wifi tethering and Google nav.

 

[KentState]

The OS already has its distinct advantages - very smooth, polished UI, integration with other Microsoft services (xbox/zune/office). Mango does a good job of enhancing those things (deeper xbox integration, office SkyDrive support beyond OneNote), as well as filling in the gaps where they lagged the competition (better multitasking, better browsing, native twitter/facebook/linkedin, navigation, app results in search results, much-needed additions to the SDK for devs).

The result is an OS that can certainly rival iOS or Android, if not best it, depending on your priorities. I carry a Vibrant and a Venue Pro at all times, and while the Vibrant does more right now - pretty much everything the Venue Pro does, it does better. And Mango will significantly shrink the gap between what WP7 can do.

My biggest issue with all that being said is that I don't want to integrate with MS and their products like Xbox, Bing, Office, Zune or Skype. I want seamless integration with Google and it seems that the overall stack is going to dictate which phone OS I go with. This however is one area where Apple may struggle as they lack major services that both Google and Microsoft offer. Will be interesting.

 

[finbarqs]

I think what he's referring is that all the features on the vibrant that the VP has, VP does it better.

 

[Deeko]

My biggest issue with all that being said is that I don't want to integrate with MS and their products like Xbox, Bing, Office, Zune or Skype. I want seamless integration with Google and it seems that the overall stack is going to dictate which phone OS I go with. This however is one area where Apple may struggle as they lack major services that both Google and Microsoft offer. Will be interesting.

Sure, if your biggest concern is integration with Google services, it makes sense that you'd prefer Android...and its doubtful anyone other than Google will ever reach that level of integration with their services for obvious enough reasons.

 

[Deeko]

I think what he's referring is that all the features on the vibrant that the VP has, VP does it better.

Correct. The Vibrant has more features, but where they overlap, the VP is superior.

 

[KentState]

Sure, if your biggest concern is integration with Google services, it makes sense that you'd prefer Android...and its doubtful anyone other than Google will ever reach that level of integration with their services for obvious enough reasons.

Which is a shame that MS didn't get on the ball earlier. Since Windows 3.0, I've almost exclusively used their products including making a career out of their development and database applications and services. I was so put off by my last WM6 phone that I jumped to the original Droid and spend the last two years moving everything to Google. Now MS has a product that's worthwhile, it's too late for me. I wonder how many others are in the same position.

 

[Deeko]

Which is a shame that MS didn't get on the ball earlier. Since Windows 3.0, I've almost exclusively used their products including making a career out of their development and database applications and services. I was so put off by my last WM6 phone that I jumped to the original Droid and spend the last two years moving everything to Google. Now MS has a product that's worthwhile, it's too late for me. I wonder how many others are in the same position.

I've gone back and forth. Throughout college I started using more and more Google services, but I've found myself migrating back off of them. The only Google service I really find myself unable to get rid of is Google Talk - and that's because I kinda have to use what my friends are using there.

They got off to a late start with their cloud services, and even now they don't advertise them very much...but Microsoft actually makes some good stuff there. The whole Office online/SkyDrive/Live services are solid.

 

[dougp]

Which is a shame that MS didn't get on the ball earlier. Since Windows 3.0, I've almost exclusively used their products including making a career out of their development and database applications and services. I was so put off by my last WM6 phone that I jumped to the original Droid and spend the last two years moving everything to Google. Now MS has a product that's worthwhile, it's too late for me. I wonder how many others are in the same position.

I primarily use gmail, calendar & iGoogle - I do put things in Google Docs, but that's because iGoogle puts my bookmarks there.

 

[rockyct]

My biggest issue with all that being said is that I don't want to integrate with MS and their products like Xbox, Bing, Office, Zune or Skype. I want seamless integration with Google and it seems that the overall stack is going to dictate which phone OS I go with. This however is one area where Apple may struggle as they lack major services that both Google and Microsoft offer. Will be interesting.

I'm still waiting for my Verzion WP7 device...but from what I understand, gmail and google calender work pretty well with the device. I think they understand that not many people are going to be using a hotmail address for it. Also, I think those other google services will eventually be ported over if WP7 becomes a serious contender. I wouldn't be surprised if google talk gets integrated into the new messaging hub when mango launches.

Google docs doesn't matter to me much right now, but I only have misc stuff in it. To me, it can't compare to office, and the integration that is coming with it is exciting. Create a doc on your home pc, edit it on the phone, open it again at work. That's really cool.

Nothing can compare to Zune pass right now although more cloud music based stuff is coming out on iOS and Google. $15 for unlimited download/streaming on three devices/3 computers plus 10 songs to keep in mp3 form. I don't see why more people don't sign up for this.

 

[vshah]

Not better - more. The Venue Pro does things better, but the Vibrant can do more. The two things on the Vibrant I use most are wifi tethering and Google nav.

which do you prefer for web browsing?

 

[Deeko]

which do you prefer for web browsing?

hmm...both are better in different ways for browsing. The Vibrant has flash support, more websites recognize it as a cell phone, and it loads mobile sites better. The Venue Pro scrolls and zooms MUCH smoother, loads desktop sites faster, and I prefer its tab/favorites management.

If I had to choose, for most things I'd say the Venue Pro, but the Vibrant does have strengths there...especially if the site has Flash content.

 

[Bateluer]

It will be interesting to see if WP7 moves from its current irrelevant market position to something relevant. I don't see it moving much though, MS locks that hardware down to a pretty strict set, Snapdragons and Adreno based GPUs, and a year or two behind the latest. Yes, they've made their UI very smooth, but its still ugly as sin and difficult to use. As mobile gaming grows, having the option of powerful hardware is going to be of an increasing importance.

Still, MS has a lot of money and will continue to pump money into WP7, the mobile market is too big for them to ignore.

On a side note, from the DailyTech article on Mango, MS actually sold more Windows Mobile 6.x handsets than WP7 handsets in the same time frame. Bargain basement pricing to clear inventory was cited as the cause.

 

[dougp]

It will be interesting to see if WP7 moves from its current irrelevant market position to something relevant. I don't see it moving much though, MS locks that hardware down to a pretty strict set, Snapdragons and Adreno based GPUs, and a year or two behind the latest. Yes, they've made their UI very smooth, but its still ugly as sin and difficult to use. As mobile gaming grows, having the option of powerful hardware is going to be of an increasing importance.

You're the first person to ever say the UI is difficult to use. As for the hardware, uhm, one word for you. And the iPhone is an ugly OS compared to the WP7, with Android only coming ahead because of skinning - after rooting, of course.

iPhone. Want to talk about older hardware being a success?

And for mobile gaming - what about Xbox Live being tied in? And powerful hardware for gaming? Again, look at the iPhone.

 

[Muyoso]

You're the first person to ever say the UI is difficult to use. As for the hardware, uhm, one word for you. And the iPhone is an ugly OS compared to the WP7, with Android only coming ahead because of skinning - after rooting, of course.

iPhone. Want to talk about older hardware being a success?

And for mobile gaming - what about Xbox Live being tied in? And powerful hardware for gaming? Again, look at the iPhone.

What are you talking about? WP7 is ugly as sin with the live tiles. Once you get past them its beautiful, but the live tiles are awful and a complete waste of space/usefulness.

Also, the iPhone's hardware is miles ahead of WP7, as are all of the new top end Android phones released since Q2 2010. WP7 devices use Adreno 200 GPU's which are pathetic compared to even the iPhone 3gs or anything Android has offered for over a year now on top end phones.

Also, semi off topic but WP7 has AWFUL javascript performance which they better fix in mango.

 

[Deeko]

There's more to life than sunspider. In real world tests, WP7 really isn't far off from other systems in browsing speed.

Live tiles are awesome, they're actually very useful once you get past their simplicity.

 

[Muyoso]

There's more to life than sunspider.

Yea, there's also browsermark.

 

[Deeko]

Or there's *gasp* actual websites.

Man...I feel like its 2001 when I led the campaign in the video subforum to stop people from whining about 3DMark when their game performance was fine...

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