Windows Phone 7.5: Music, Voice Command and Bing Search

by Timi Cantisano on September 2, 2011 · 0 comments

Its been a couple months since Microsoft’s Windows Phone event which gave the public a first glimpse at some of the 500 new features that will be in Windows Phone 7.5. While a release date hasn’t been announced, rumors are circulating that updated OS could launch as soon as September 15th. Microsoft has decided to wet our WP 7.5 palettes by releasing a feature video, which contains mostly overlap from what we saw in May. I’ll be highlighting the new bits below, but for full details on WP 7.5 I suggest taking a look at the WP 7.5 Bible.

Music and Voice:

While not much has changed in the music hub it’s important to note one critical addition that was absent from WP 7, podcasts. In WP 7.5 you will have the capability to download, listen/watch podcasts directly on your device. The integration of the applications hub (which will be present in all hubs) will give you access to music and video related applications such as Last.fm, Lyrics, YouTube. Lastly, Voice Control will allow to you to respond to an incoming message hands free while listening to music. During a song the music will pause, read the incoming text message, than give you options (reply, call, and done) on what you would like to do. Choosing the appropriate option WP 7.5 will than walk you through each step than once completed return you to your music.

Bing

As always Microsoft is adamant about showcasing its own properties. With Bing Search Microsoft is looking to change your search experience by providing detailed results and information. For example, searching for a movie is simple. Bing will bring up the results of all movies playing in your area and when a movie is clicked the details are displayed on a Quick Card. Swiping to the left brings up the show times for that film. Similar to the music hub Bing also integrates related applications, in this case IMDB.

While a majority of the video was a recap from what was initially presented in May, it’s interesting to see a couple new features make there way into the robust WP 7.5. We can only hope that once launched Microsoft will have a couple surprises in store for WP 7.5 users.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqy4oUhDIgM