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What to expect from the Windows Phone 7.5 VIP event?

May 17, 2011 7:45 am by damaster | 34 comments

It’s not long until Microsoft reveals to the world what’s under the hood in its upcoming Windows Phone 7.5 update, codenamed "Mango". On May 24th at 10am EDT, Microsoft will be holding a VIP Preview party in New York and London concurrently, said to "lift the curtain on the next major release of Windows Phone". But what should we expect from this announcement? We will summarise here what had been officially unveiled during the Mobile World Congress, MIX 2011, and TechEd 2011 events, as well as what was leaked during the past few weeks. We’ll also add in a few speculations of our own, just to keep things interesting. So here we go:

Officially Announced Features


Third-party Multi-tasking	Twitter integration in People Hub	Office 365 and SkyDrive support in Office Hub

Internet Explorer 9 Mobile	Improved application discovery	Custom ringtones support

Over-the-air Podcasts Download	Better marketplace navigation	Bing Search "Extras"

Multiple Live Tiles per app	Revamped Games Hub	Expanded language support

Configurable background services	Pinnable email folders and conversation view	Microsoft Lync Mobile app

1500+ New APIs (Motion Sensor, Gyro, Sockets, Database and more)	Private and Beta Marketplace and Parental Controls	Exchange Server email search, enhanced security and information rights management, and support for hidden WiFi networks

Rumored and Leaked Features


Bing Vision and Bing Audio	Turn-by-turn Navigation	SMS Dictation

Built-in Messenger and Facebook Chat in Messaging and People Hub	Automatic Games Sync via Xbox LIVE	Group Messaging

Artist Art on Lock Screen	Smart DJ Mix support	Camera shutter sound toggle

Linked Inbox	Microsoft Exchange Tasks sync support	Visual Voicemail

Built-in Facebook check-in and video upload support

What else might be coming?

On the hardware side, it is widely speculated that Microsoft will be announcing their Chassis-2 specifications, particularly given the fact that Nokia is set to manufacture a variety of different hardware which could potentially target lower-priced markets (perhaps maybe a glimpse at the new Nokia Windows Phones coming at the end of this year?). In addition, besides the already-announced gyroscope support, it is also speculated that Windows Phone 7.5 might support front-facing cameras and NFC integration.

On the software side, one thing that comes up to our mind would be Skype integration. Given the acquisition has not yet been finalised yet (pending regulatory approval), we do not expect Microsoft to be natively integrating Skype into the phone. However, Microsoft already announced that the Skype app will be coming to Windows Phone 7.5 during MIX 2011, but given that they pulled the demo of the app last-minute during the keynote, it’d be interesting to see if something else might be in store for Skype.

Of course, we certainly hope Microsoft has more surprises for us on the day. Will we see finally multiple Windows Live Calendar support? Or perhaps Windows Live Mesh integration? Or will we have to wait until Windows Phone 8 (codenamed "Apollo")? There’s always room for that extra nice-to-have feature to be added to the Windows Phone feature list. We only hope that Microsoft will bring us the update sooner rather than later. What else would you like to see in the coming updates? Leave us a comment below!

This entry was posted in Featured, Mobile and tagged Mango, Windows Phone. Bookmark the permalink.

http://www.blog.fludlyt.com Fludlyt
I would like to see a cloud back up service similar to that of Kin Studio and Last.fm scrobbling in the Music hub.
An added bonus would be a combination of Zune.net and SkyDrive so that we can take advantage of that 25 GB for our personal media collection.
- http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay
  Actually just want a way to backup the phone, eg SMS. Whatever happened to My Phone? Worked great on WM and would have thought this would be available for WP7. �
  - http://www.blog.fludlyt.com Fludlyt
    I should have clarified, the cloud back up service similar to Kin Studio will be for sms, contacts and any other useful data. This Engadget article goes in to more detail� http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-kin-studio-saves-all-your-content-to-the-web/� .
    - http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay
      Exactly, I was just thinking of my own situation of having to lose text’s multiple times already.�
Rahadyan
great article on Mango summary!�
Pradeep
great summary.�
Anonymous
Does Windows phone already support syncing of contacts and calendar entries with Outlook? (Our organization does not allow over-the-air sync.)
Bnlf
omg i didnt realize the update was so big after seeing everything in one place. Microsoft maybe slow but they really know how to make software when they want to. gogo wp7! happy user here :)
http://twitter.com/jamiet Jamie Thomson
If multiple Live Calendars aren’t in there then Mango will be a disappointment to me. I live my life by multiple calendars and I need to see them all on my phone.
- http://twitter.com/jkavanagh58 jkavanagh58
  Roger that Jamie. �
- Anonymous
  Yes, mulitple calendar support would be something really important.
  What about Bluetooth file exchange and tethering, are they too obvious to me mentioned are have they really been forgotten? And different volumes for ringtones, conversation, music, etc.?
  PLEASE ADD MESH TO THE SKYDRIVE UPDATE!!!
Mr Trash208
“If multiple Live Calendars aren’t in there then Mango will be a disappointment to me. I live my life by multiple calendars and I need to see them all on my phone”
You are a disappointment if you can’t manage your life with one calendar.
- Revolutions
  What? That makes no sense. Yes, people do manage with one calendar, but as life gets more complicated, multiple calendars are a boon (e.g.: Family calendar with… family events, business calendar with meetings/deadlines, etc. calendar for holidays), and so on. I’d love to see multiple calendar support in Mango.
  - http://twitter.com/jamiet Jamie Thomson
    Don’t rise to the troll. Leave the dumbass asleep under his bridge.
- ozozdil
  :) +1�
  - the-hq
    What if people don’t want to mix their private calendar with the work calendar?�
    - http://twitter.com/jamiet Jamie Thomson
      What if I want to view my wife’s calendar on my phone? What if i want to view my football team’s published fixture list on my phone? What if I want to view a feed of local events from eventful.com on my phone? I subscribe to all of those at calendar.live.com but can’t see them on my WP7 today.
      Think before you write dumbass. Better still, don’t write anything.
      - the-hq
        You replied to me, thanks for calling me names ;-)
        As of Mango your problems should be fixed by then since they showed off yesterday that multiple calendars are no problem any more.
http://www.appatic.com Avatar X
Kudos to you Damaster. best post i have seen detailing all of the features in WP7.5. Only thing i would liked is if you went all the way and separated leaked from rumored in independent sections. Other than that, it is a really great blog post. �
Revolutions
Please, just get this to me soon. I don’t want to wait till January 2012. I was hoping early November (one can dream…)
- Anonymous
  LOL! What makes you think this is launching in 2012. It’s launching later this year in October. The Mango dev tools are released to developers in a few days.
http://beingmanan.com/ Manan
And Angry Birds.
Anonymous
Unfortunately, the one thing missing will be a product release.
When other mobile OS vendors announce a product, it usually ships pretty soon after. In this case, we won’t get a proper release date, and even after it has been released, we can expect months of carrier delays.
- Anonymous
  I take it you have been and Android user. Even though WP7 has had it’s update snafus, it’s a Godsend compared to the nightmare that is Android. So don’t complain.
Anonymous
Off topic – Windows Live Skydrive shown twice on NCIS Los Angeles last night!�
http://twitter.com/surilamin surilamin
Just wanted to say great post, I’m sure it took some time to put together. :)�
Anonymous
They need to add HD-out STAT!�
Den
Calendar needs to be updated. How come it does not store meetings and events after 2 weeks? How come there is no deadline function for recurring events? C’mon.. I personally don’t care about multiple calendars, but at least one should work properly. :) And that should be synced properly.
Rezat88
where is mango… may 24 10 edt where??????
Aaron
So, the only thing I care about…..SMS Back Up on my Mozart is achievable?????
Jimbo
What, nothing about proper hot swappable SD card support? No Bluetooth file transfer either? No, I don’t want to use ‘the cloud’ to transfer my data, sorry.
rt
EVERY ONE CAN upgrade to mango today??????? please help me to mack update my winphone
- Damaster – LiveSide.net
  No. Mango will be available this fall.
Will
Agree with Jimbo; Windows Phone sucks if they do not bring in hot swappable SD card support, I will never trust a cloud service with my sensitive files, people should learn from the recent massive data leaks from these types of services, (PS3 anyone?)