After a lot of waiting and anticipation, the next big revision of Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, Windows Phone 7.5 codenamed “Mango” is finally here for most users. Updates to Windows Phone devices should be rolling out across carriers worldwide in the upcoming days, so we’re letting you know what is in store if you have a Windows phone device.
Release Schedule
Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” has been released officially today by Microsoft, and the vast majority of carriers are delivering the update right now. We have compiled a list below of all carriers receiving the update now, and those that are slightly behind in their rollouts - keep in mind that this list may change over time as new information arises, and check the Where's my phone update? page for further developments.
If your carrier/device has received the Mango update but isn’t listed below, please comment to let us know.
Carriers delivering Mango
- AT&T (with exceptions)
- T-Mobile
- Verizon
- Sprint
- Bell Canada
- Sasktel
- Rogers
- Telus
- Three/Hutchison Group
- Vodafone
- Orange
- O2
- Deutsche Telekom
- Telstra
- Optus
- SFR
- Ericom
- eMobile
- Telecom Italia
- Telcel
- SingTel
- Starhub
- Open Market Phones (without a carrier)
Delayed Mango rollouts
- AT&T, Mango for the Samsung Focus revision 1.4. This update is testing and should be available in October
- Deutsche Telekom, Mango for the Samsung Omnia 7. This device appears to be excluded at this stage
- SFR, Mango for the Samsung Omnia 7. This device appears to be excluded at this stage.
- Telefonica (Spain), Mango still in testing mode
To update to WP7 Mango (build 7.10.7720.68) from a public build you must have the previous public NoDo (7.0.7392.0) update installed; for developers running the beta builds of Mango you should be able to upgrade after you install the Friends and Family update. The download will be available through your device in conjunction with the Zune PC software.
If you are too earger to wait for Mango on your device, you can force it to update. Check out this handy guide to know what to do.
Features
Several months ago Microsoft mentioned that the Mango update will be bringing over 500 new features to the smartphone platform. Many of these features are minor and not worth mentioning, but of course there are several major features that will improve the overall Windows Phone 7 experience.
First off, the WP7 browser gets an upgrade to Internet Explorer 9, along with HTML5 support and GPU hardware acceleration. Bing features will also get an upgrade including Bing Vision, search by voice and Music Search so you can search by other media than just text.
Multitasking is another hotly anticipated feature for Mango. Through a simple update for apps on the developer’s side, users can run apps in the background and easily hot-swap between them with ease. Live Tiles also get an update for easier dynamic content retrieval without needing apps to be open.
The People app also sees a massive overhaul, with the inclusion of full Twitter and LinkedIn integration, Windows Live Messenger Chat and Messages for easy instant messaging in the one conversation and Facebook check-ins and Chat. Hands-free messaging will be available thanks to speech-to-text and a linked inbox will be included to combine email accounts and give a conversation view.
Other major apps to receive upgrades will be the Marketplace (for better navigation), the Office Hub (for SkyDrive and Office 365 support), the Games Hub (revamped), Bing Maps (turn-by-turn navigation) and support for custom ringtones in the settings. Support for more languages will also be included.
On the hardware side, Mango brings support for front-facing cameras, and while no first-generation WP7 devices have this feature, future devices (listed below) such as the HTC Radar will bring support.
Stay tuned for Neowin's full Windows Phone 7 Mango review, which should be coming soon.
Upcoming WP7 Mango Devices
There are also several upcoming devices that will be powered by Windows Phone 7 “Mango.” If you’re still unsure about buying a device, then perhaps check the list below to see if any of the upcoming WP7 devices takes your fancy; their respective release dates are also included.
HTC
HTC Radar – Early October
HTC Titan – Early October
Samsung
Samsung Omnia W – Late October
Samsung Focus S – “Fall”
Samsung Focus Flash – Confirmed for AT&T, unknown release
Nokia
Nokia “Sea Ray” – Unconfirmed device, Q4 release possible
Acer
Acer W4 – October
ZTE
ZTE Tania – Confirmed, unknown release
The Future
The Mango upgrade is certainly not the end of the Windows Phone 7 story, in fact there are two rumored upgrades still in the works. The first is Windows Phone 7 "Tango", the immediate successor to Mango that is supposed to be a minor update, possibly to enable Microsoft to expand the realms of Windows Phone into developing markets and onto lower-end devices to compete with Android. Not much else is known about this update at this stage.
Even less is known about the second update, codenamed at this stage to be "Apollo." Currently rumor has it that Apollo will be Windows Phone 8 with a rough release date of 2012 alongside Windows 8.
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