Text and Photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Microsoft’s Windows Phone has been around for ten months now and is primed for a huge update. Codenamed Mango, looks to meet Apple and Google’s mobile offerings head on.
Microsoft may have come late to the modern mobile OS party, but it arrived in style. The Windows Mobile OS impressed even the most hardened pundits, many of who swore that there wasn’t space for yet another mobile operating system in the market. Most specially, they said, one from Microsoft, whose Windows Mobile smartphones were getting so stale and behind the times that it made Nokia’s geriatric Symbian OS look shiny and new.
Windows Phone showed tremendous potential. Here is a mobile OS that’s not app-focused but is user focused. Three swipes is all it takes to get most things done and the the tiled interface, derived mostly from Microsoft’s failed Zune music player, sets the bar high for speed and ease of use.
Now that Microsoft and Nokia have formed a formidable Windows Phone alliance, that HP webOS has dropped out of the mobile space completely and that Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility is likely to push Samsung, HTC, LG and other manufacturers to Windows Phone, things are getting really interesting.
The long awaited (it was expected in July) Mango update to Windows Phone is a huge release that improves functionality and makes the Windows Phone a true contender in the mobile handset space. Expected to start rolling out with new devices (although Microsoft Canada confirmed that all existing Windows Phones will get the update for free) in mid-September, Mango is the big upgrade that Microsoft hopes will get a lot of users switching to Windows Phone.
Upcoming Features
We actually liked the fact that the current version of Windows Phone doesn’t multitask and runs one program at a time. We experienced no software conflicts or crashes, battery life is outstanding because there aren’t any background gremlins sucking up the juice and the whole ‘do one thing at a time,’ ethos is really refreshing. iOS and most specially Android, on the other hand, require constant attention.
These mobile operating systems have gotten to the point that they are like newborn babes requiring constant feeding, burping and changing otherwise they will throw a tantrum or misbehave.
Constant switching back and forth of apps, shutting down background operations and the incessant notifications and requests to upgrade apps has grown alarmingly annoying, even for someone who really enjoys playing with this stuff, it can get to be too much.
This isn’t yet the case with Windows Phone and we hope it won’t be with the Mango update. Microsoft is adding multitasking, cut-copy-and-paste, the ability to use the phone as a mobile hotspot to share your data across devices. Mango will also deliver a faster browser in IE9 mobile, Skype integration since it is now owned by Microsoft and an impressive Local Scout feature that determines location information using Bing.
Mango is also set to unveil better Twitter integration, Windows Live messenger and Facebook chat, turn-by-turn navigation and conversation view in email area also some of the communication-focused nuances many users are looking forward to. The new features number 500 according to Microsoft and some will be big while other will be subtle. The point here is that Windows Phone Mango is potentially the biggest mobile OS story this year. Users suffering from app fatigue and who’ve developed ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) from constantly taming their smartphones might relish what Microsoft has to offer this time around.
