Microsoft announced, at a press conference today, the next version of Windows Phone "Mango" with many new features. The "Mango" update will be
available free to Windows Phone 7 customers and will ship
on new Windows Phones beginning this fall. Videos of the new features and the press conference appear at the end of this article.
The "Mango" release
organizes information around the person or group of people you want to interact
with - not the app they have to use - via thread, groups, linked inbox, and voice-to-text. Social media integration now includes LinkedIn and Twitter.
"It's like having a great butler or a valet that you've known for 30
years who can anticipate your every need, instead of you doing all the work
yourself," said Greg Sullivan, senior product manager of mobile communications at Microsoft.
In addition to making it easy to get timely notifications and updates from apps right from the Start Screen, the "Mango" release also will show apps as part of search results and within Windows Phone Hubs. Live Tiles will allow real-time information from apps without having to open them. Multitasking lets users switch between apps and allows apps to run in the background.
Windows Phone "Mango" release will connect the web to location awareness, camera and access to apps. When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps.