Review: The Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Update, Another Fruit Name Worth Recognizing

Next up on our review list here at TechGuySmartBuy is the latest Mango update for the Windows Phone 7 platform.  With Android’s marketshare growing globally, Apple’s iOS being as strong as ever, and BlackBerry kind of slowly dwindling its fanbase;  Windows Phone 7 recently updated its OS to offer more.   The Mango update has been rolling out to all of the first generation WP7 devices although there is a way to force the update to you.   We have the HTC Trophy for Verizon running the latest to put through our test procedures.   The home of Windows announced the update back in May, offering over 500 new features added to the mobile platform.   Microsoft is seeking to get your attention with Mango on its WP7, let us give you the details to see if it deserves your attention or not.

“I can easily see WP7 causing BlackBerry some trouble in the near future as long as Microsoft’s hardware gets better and if RIM doesn’t get their act together.”

One of the more welcome new features added to the platform is multitasking…or some sort of it.  WP7’s version of handling multiple apps acts more as an app switcher instead of true multitasking.   By briefly holding the Back button, you can go to apps currently in use but the apps in the background don’t run; they pretty much freeze until you get back to them.  For example: if you go to load a website in the browser then switch to check your email, the webpage freezes where ever you left it.   So if it was in the middle of loading when you left, it will stay where ever it was loading and it will finish loading when you go back to the browser.   Looks cool but in reality, acts as a facade.  Hopefully within their next big update, they can achieve true multitasking feats.  

Microsoft’s famed web browser gets beefed up from IE7 to IE9 to handle a little bit more than it could when WP7 launched.  At first look of the new update, Mango moves the address bar from the top of the screen to the bottom only popping when typing.   It takes about a second or two to get used to as almost every other mobile platform has their bar on top as well.   The refreshed browser now offers HTML5 video support (but unfortunately no Flash or Silverlight) within the browser which is a welcome addition.   Not that it was bad before but it is definitely a better browsing experience than previous. 

While not being a big Bing fan/user, they have made their search experience on a WP7 device a great one.   Bing’s search options have expanded with more interesting options.  Not never-seen-before option but done well visually with WP7’s Metro UI.   So now instead of your usual typing search, you have voice search, Bing Vision, Local Scout, and music search at your disposal.   Voice Search was in the original OS but has been vastly improved for better voice recognition as well as integrating it into voice-to-text feature but more on that later.

Bing Vision offers WP7 users a visual search option similar to ShopSavvy in where users can scan a barcode, QR code, text, Microsoft tag, book, CD, or DVD and get search results.   Bing Vision remembers previous searches as well as scanning text for translation but doesn’t work as well as you may wish to just yet.  I give Microsoft credit for not having to have a recticle or anything for to read the barcode or text within the Vision search option as it makes for a more natural means to search.

The Local Scout search within the Bing search offers users location services to find the nearest attractions (places to eat, drink, parks, shop, etc.) within your area on Bing Maps.  You can access reviews, apps the location may participate in (like Foursquare, Poynt, OpenTable, etc.) along with the usual contact info of phone number, hours, site, & directions.  Offers Yelp-like features home-baked within the OS with Metro UI without any external app support since WP7 only has around 30,000 apps.

Music search is Bing’s music ID search option that works like Shazam or SoundHound within the OS default search.   Also it can offer the option to buy the tune in the Zune marketplace as it obviously won’t work for every piece of music.  But you do have Shazam available as an app in the Marketplace in case your not happy with music search.

The Mango update does a slight overhaul on the email and messaging on Windows Phone 7.   The new update offers threading within both emails and messaging system to keep everything in one place.   Also within the SMS/MMS messenger app you have Facebook chat & Live Messenger built-in at one central messaging hub.   Which reminds me of how the Sidekick 4G handles texting, which is actually a good thing.

On the email side of things, you now have the ability to link multiple inbox as a unified inbox.  So for those who use more than one email account can have all emails in one central email app.   This can be a welcome change for those who like it, I’m kind of on the fence about it.   WP7 now supports search on a Microsoft Exchange server, set up an out-of-office reply, sync your to-do list, and read protected documents/emails for you corporate users out there.

Also with Mango, you get new features like:

• The ability to add a to-do list within the Calendar app.
• New auto-fix editing feature within the Camera/Picture app.
• The ability to share/store documents using Office 365 and Windows Live SkyDrive.
• Bing Maps now offer audio turn-by-turn directions.
• The ability to create group contacts (for easy group text/email) within the People Hub.

Funny that I have always loved Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS but hated the older Windows Mobile OS.  WP7 just keep getting better and better with each update but so does the competition (Android and iOS).  Microsoft needs to improve on the hardware choices for their WP7 devices in order to have a chance in keeping up or surpassing them.  I can easily see WP7 causing BlackBerry some trouble in the near future as long as Microsoft’s hardware gets better and if RIM doesn’t get their act together.  The new Mango does offer a significant amount of updates that are definitely notable as they will offer a definite faster experience on the second generation WP7 devices.  Microsoft is heading in the right direction on the mobile front, I just hope consumers actually take notice.  

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