A technical preview of the upcoming Windows Phone 7.5 – aka Mango – has been popping up on a few websites this past week. It’ll bring multitasking, WiFi hotspot capabilities, threaded messaging, linked inboxes and better Exchange support. Overall there’s a smarter and easier approach to apps, the Internet and communications.
Internet Explorer 9 will be added, which brings speed, HTML5 but alas no Flash. The URL entry bar is now down at the bottom and Bing, along with other Microsoft Cloud services, is more tightly integrated. Bing works smarter and harder for you, the user.
They’ve also fixed the stupid camera setting option – it’ll now save the settings you enter. Overall, the US tech sites are pretty positive about the new OS with a better user experience. It’ll be rolling out to all Windows Phone 7 devices for free soon enough.
Have a look at this Mobile Burn video to see the improvements or check the link below for more information.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3FF9ekjVhE’]
Link – Mobile Burn Mango Preview
I am building some genuine excitement about this release. I bought the Samsung Omnia 7 recently on T-mobile (a good little deal reported by this very site) and do very much enjoy the handset, a classy and smooth user experience. WP7 has me in two minds but by the sounds of it Mango will allay ask of my concerns (well 99% anyway, no flash…?)
I’ll post some feedback after I’ve had a chance to play with it but I do think things are looking positive in the WP7 camp.
Are you sure about WiFi hotspots???
So far as I’m aware there’s been no official mention of WiFi hotspots (and I think one or two “fairly close to the source” denials) *however* there have been suggestions that the sockets capability being introduced into the API makes it theoretically possible – though probably not as painlessly as one might like (basically the hotspot app would have to be running – switch away and you’d lose it).
There are some very clever people out there (c.f. the RDP app that uses a proxy to work without any additional software installed at the remote end) and tethering is something a lot of people want so if it can be done it will.
Ref flash – no… but they are adding H264 support to the browser so that may be a bit less of an issue than it was…
Here’s the low-down on the WiFi hotspots..
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/hands-on-with-windows-phone-75-mango-technical-preview/6107?pg=4&tag=mantle_skin;content
If that’s true (and I honestly can’t recall seeing it mentioned anywhere else as anything other than speculation and/or wishful thinking) then I will be a very happy bunny (especially given that I’m on the one plan with three!).
But I’m not getting my hopes up ’til I’ve actually connected my laptop to the interweb via the phone (-:
So far as I’m aware there’s been no official mention of WiFi hotspots (and I think one or two “fairly close to the source” denials) *however* there have been suggestions that the sockets capability being introduced into the API makes it theoretically possible – though probably not as painlessly as one might like (basically the hotspot app would have to be running – switch away and you’d lose it).
There are some very clever people out there (c.f. the RDP app that uses a proxy to work without any additional software installed at the remote end) and tethering is something a lot of people want so if it can be done it will.
Ref flash – no… but they are adding H264 support to the browser so that may be a bit less of an issue than it was…
It all looks great but I’m too impatient to wait. Need to sell my Optimus 7 asap.
Personally, I’m rather dissappointed. I currently still use the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional with SPB Mobile Shell, and think it looks and acts more like I want it to. I just don’t see what all the hype is about. Am I missing something?