Two Windows Phone 7 updates coming in early 2011

Rumours around the web are saying to watch out for two of the upcoming conferences – Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, and Mobile World Congress in February – for announcements on the first and second major update to Windows Phone 7 devices.

Tom Warren on his personal blog Winrumors.com stated that according to his sources familiar with  the plans, Microsoft will bring CDMA support and the much-touted copy and paste functionality to Windows Phone 7 at CES in Janurary 6-9, 2011, as promised back in October 2010 when the first Windows Phone 7 deivces were unveiled to the world. In fact, several testers with the Samsung Taylor devleoper prototype devices have reportedly received an update recently and included the copy and paste functionality. Check out the video below:

Windows Phone 7 Copy and Paste functionality demo

The second and larger update is rumoured to be announced during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona between February 14-17, 2011, exactly one year after Windows Phone 7 was unveiled to the world at the same conference. According to Tom Warren, the second update will introduce enhanced developer controls for applications, including several new APIs that will allow for greater multi-tasking, in-app downloads and better customization for end users. Microsoft’s Senior Technical Evangelist for Visual Studio Brian Keller also hinted that plans for a Silverlight update to Windows Phone 7 may also be unveiled at Mobile World Congress.

There are also rumours that Microsoft will bring tethering support and map improvements to Windows Phone 7. What else would you like to see Microsoft to bring to WP7 in its future updates?

Oh, remember to check out our conferences tweets page to stay up-to-date on the CES and Mobile World Congress!

Comments

  • Walartist

    flash baby, fulltime battery monitor

    • http://www.pbase.com/brentgv Brent

      I don’t get the appeal of having Flash on a mobile device…at least not with current hardware. Flash on smartphones is sluggish, buggy, and a battery hog. It’s not even worth this comment. ;)

  • Lee

    How about video output like the Samsung Captivate?

    • Damaster – LiveSide.net

      I don’t think that’s applicable to software updates – it’s more a hardware requirement. It will be up to individual manufacturers to include this on the phones. LG phones have DLNA support which can output videos directly to DLNA-compatible TVs.

  • Marcus_cruz

    How about for starters…..
    Support for static IP addresses. Not everyone uses DHCP.
    All apps in the marketplace must play audio through same means as phone. In other words, Netflix should play audio through the BT headphones.
    Copy and paste.
    Ability to copy files to the device, such as PDF’s for example.
    A user document storage area so that files can be taken to and from school, or workplace. Many people use their phone as a storage area. The other services just are not secure enough for me to go putting my documents on some server for some contractor to get a hold of. Even if they dont do flash, at least put some sort of silverlight video. Customizability. Live tile changing. Main page or home screen customizability. Alot of areas need to be improved. MS needs to move quick too. Android and iOS have no problem moving at slower than a snails pace.

  • http://www.pbase.com/brentgv Brent

    I’m hoping that the maps improvements = turn-by-turn voice navigation.

  • Mayfly007

    Need to be able to use the phone as simple storage. ie drag and drop files from any pc onto the phone via usb, and also sync with outlook as an option rather than using Zune, for what ever the reason may be for the end user from security to simplicity.

  • Snoogan

    I would like to see the following improvements to the WP7 OS…
    1. Copy & Paste
    2. Customer Ringtones
    3. Flash/HTML5 support
    4. Integrated “You Tube” player, not this website based player.
    5. Wireless syncing via Wi-Fi/3G/2G (updates, music, video, etc…)
    6. Better memory allocation (prevent freezing)
    7. Pandora radio support
    8. Unified photo storage (cut out the Live, FB, SkyDrive, saved) just one is all you need!
    9. Radio player w/o headphones.
    10. Turn by turn navigation w/ voice assist

  • CSMR

    What I’d need before buying:

    1: a common store of files (in addition to isolated storage)
    2: USB mass storage support
    3: integrated SIP VOIP
    4: Exchange tasks

  • The Dark Lord

    I do not know, but I, like millions of other users use outlook for my desktop software and naturally I use tasks and notes as well. Specifically now that they are improved in MS Office 2010.
    Just because stupid Apple introduced a phone that doesn’t have tasks and notes and then Google moved right afterwards, what a copy cat, doesn’t mean nobody looks for that anymore. Nobody here mentions that, have you all given up already on that? I have yet to hear one logical explanation that makes sense why we do not have that on our phones.
    I do not like the blackberry phones, but they have a great integration on that stuff and so does WebOS. I find it hard to believe that even MS has followed their biggest competitor and left it out on WP7. That was the biggest disappointment for me. You do not support fully support your own software? REALLY?
    I was almost creating a counter advertisement with a screen that doesn’t show that and run against a wall and say REALLY? How Stupid. I am excited about their new interface, but that is a major turn off for me. And think about it, having that would be such a good reason to get businesses involved again. have something complete that all the competitors do not have. But now, let’s be as stupid as the other ones … REALLY?

  • http://www.colonialfloorcare.com/ Marble Repair Boca Raton

    Nice video. I wish to visit again.

  • Tank

    FLASH, FLASH and…oh yes, nearly forgot…F L A S H !!

  • Bmental

    Exchange Task support. Lost this upgrading from WM 6.