Windows Phone 7 was unveiled last year. But it was never officially launched in India. Now, finally, an updated version (7.5) called Mango has been brought to the country. So, how has this OS changed from its original much-written-about avatar? According to the Redmond-based software giant, there are over 500 new features in Mango…
Multitasking: The original Windows 7 had rudimentary multitasking, and only a few apps built by Microsoft and preloaded onto the phone could make use of it: You could play music in the background while you browsed the web – and more or less, that was the extent of it all. With Mango, Microsoft has drastically improved on this feature to allow universal multitasking. A long press on ‘back’ button brings up a screen that displays all the apps that are open at that point of time – and users can now swipe through them to tap and switch between tasks.
Twitter & social networking:
Hubs are an important part of the Mango experience: WP7 groups together data on the basis of relevance. For example, social media updates from your friends not only appear in the Facebook app, but also in the People Hub along with their contact information. Similarly, the Me Hub displays a snapshot of all your social media updates, thus saving you the effort of having to open different apps to checkout content from different networks. When WP7 arrived last year, it boasted of very good integration for Facebook. With Mango, Microsoft has added Twitter and Linkedin to the mix.
Better browser: The browser in WP7 was no slouch. It was pretty fast in rendering web sites. Still, Microsoft has given it a facelift with the Mango update. The new browser in WP7 has better support for technologies like HTML 5 and utilizes hardware acceleration for scrolling and pinch-to-zoom on web pages. Flash, however, is still not supported.
Some level of tethering: Tethering is a big deal with consumers because it allows users to share their phone’s data connection with other devices. With Mango, the phone can now be turned into Wi-Fi hotspot where you can connect up to five devices at the same time. Still, the tethering feature in WP7 cannot be used to connect a computer or laptop to the internet through a USB cable.
Voice commands: Voice commands are the new big thing with smartphones because they allow users to interact with their devices in a more natural way. Microsoft has significantly overhauled the speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities in Mango. Holding the Windows logo (home button) on the phone brings up the voice engine. Devices running on Mango are capable of reading out messages, taking dictation of SMS, dialing phone numbers, and even opening apps after receiving voice commands.
Other stuff: With the Mango update, copy-paste is now available in Windows Phone devices. There is integrated messaging that combines all your messages from SMS service, Facebook chat, Windows Messenger etc in one place. Live tiles, the square shaped app icons which are the backbone of WP7 user interface, can display more information. For example, the email tile can show the number of unread mails or the gallery tile can show the photos.
Our take: Windows Phone 7 is an elegant and incredibly smooth OS. Also, it’s different from the icon based approach that iOS and Android take. Instead it utilizes tiles that looks modern and is minimalistic. At its introduction, it lacked functionality when compared to Android or iOS. With Mango, Microsoft has bridged much of the gap. And while it still has to work on the availability of useful apps, Mango makes WP7 a viable alternate to the other OSes in this story.
Devices: Almost all existing Windows Phones such as LG Optimus 7 and HTC Mozart. New phones like Samsung Omnia W and HTC Radar
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