Windows Phone 7 Mango: The Bible for Changes Forthcoming

by Timi Cantisano on May 24, 2011 · 1 comment

Microsoft began their mission 7 months ago by stating that phones had become application launchers and wanted to make phones smarter and easier to use. With the claim of 500 new features coming to its next update of WP7 Mango due this fall, Microsoft was on hand to show off some, but not all those features today.

PEOPLE
Looking to improve the WP7 user experience Microsoft found that clients wanted three things: Connectivity, Applications, and a powerful Internet experience. With Mango they hope to deliver on these three points in a huge way. While its not uncommon to be able to communicate via different social clients its become an issue where each individual service requires its own application to do so. With improvements to the People hub Microsoft has added integration of Twitter and LinkedIn to the previously supported Facebook, email, and phonebook. Along with integration comes the addition of a pictures hub which will display all photos from those social networking channels all in one channel. This integration will also streamline into the history as well. Not only will the history show calls and messages, but will also include messages from each social network, email, instant messaging and visual voicemail.

GROUPS
In Mango users will be able to create groups for your contacts that you have special relationships with. For example if you want to create a group for your contacts for work, family, etc. In each group you will your added contacts with live tiles that will update their individual email, social networking notifications, etc. With grouping it will also make it easier to get live updates on those people in regards to their social network updates like twitter and Facebook. By engaging the group you will only see updates from people in that group effectively reducing all the clutter that would normally show up in an unfiltered timeline/wall. Also pictures will be sorted in a manner that will only show those friends with proper tagging. You will also be able to communicate with that group using text, email and Facebook chat/live messenger.

THREADS
Will allow a global chat experience that will not rely on a dedicated service (like Blackberry Messenger). Threads will allow integration of Windows Live Messenger and Facebook chat into standard chat/ text session. The conversation will be held on one timeline regardless of which source it comes from. Users will be notified whether they can continue the chat session via Facebook/Live Messenger or transfer it to text.

EMAIL
Allowing customization of inboxes (example: 2 personal inboxes together / 1 work inbox, both independent of each other ). Threading will be better in the Mango with a conversation like experience with expansion and contraction in the email application. Enterprise email users will be able to have exclusive information rights management allowing for better productivity which can include such restrictions as do not print /do not forward. Permissions will be exclusive to WP7 and will not be supported on other mobile OS’s.

Mango will deliver a higher level of integration between its email and calendar application. If an email is received with calendar dates it will show if you have a conflict and at that time take you directly there when clicked. Not only does calendar support items from exchange, but also Gmail calendar, family calendar on Live, and Facebook events (opening will result in direct jump to the wall without opening an application.

Communication
Voice controls will be able to perform advanced functions like read, reply, and send text messages. All of which can be performed hands free. It will also be able to decipher acronyms such as NYC and read them out as New York City.

Pictures
Pictures becomes a social experience with scanning and tagging.

Office
Office can connect to more services like Sharepoint, Skydrive and Office365 (business and professional service). The improvements to Office will bring a more robust experience that does not change whether its viewed on a phone, home, or laptop.

Xbox
Xbox hub will now shows stats and take the gaming experience outside the game and display it easily on the main page. Avatars will also be present and social aspects will be introduced (purchasing items for avatar). Games will now instantly resume do to the multi-tasking capability of Mango. Although multi-tasking is enabled it will still be efficient due to the hydration and dehydration process.

IE9
Rather than have multiple search results Quick Cards will display all important information on subject in one location. If available App Connect will hand off search results to an application with possibly more robust information on the subject (ex: movies searches will hand off to IMDB application). Doing this blurs the line between internet and applications. Quick Cards will also work for other subjects like restaurants (directions, ratings, location, business hours).

LocalScout will be integrated within Quick Cards to provide information from a “local” perspective. This will provide more intimiate search results like POI’s, events, etc. You can favorite these items for retrieval in the future.

Quick Cards will support indoor mapping as well via Bing Maps. This will work much like a mall kiosk that displays the information for a mall with each individual shop that is searchable.

Bing Vision will also utilize Quick Cards with product, QR codes, bardcodes, etc and also perform hand offs to relevant applications.

While this is only a small sample of the 500 promised features to come in Fall it does look exciting and looks to be a huge improvement on the current Windows Phone 7. Check out the webcast below.