Windows Phone 7.5 Mango features

Microsoft is hedging its bets on the new Windows Phone mobile operating system as the one that will give Apple’s iOS a run for its money. Microsoft seems to have taken some inspiration from Apple’s very popular operating system and made its own innovations to make it more competitive and separate itself from the giant it wants to do battle with. People who have been able to play with the 7.5 Mango update have reported positively about it.  If you’re still unfamiliar about what Windows Phone 7.5 can offer you read on.

Probably one of the tent pole features of Windows Phone 7.5 that Microsoft thinks will attract consumers is its social media integration. Facebook integration was already featured in an earlier iteration of Windows Phone but with version 7.5 Twitter and LinkedIn have been added as well. The integration of these social networks is not just superficial it is integrated into the system. For example, photo sharing is a seamless affair. Sharing photos to Twitter and Facebook will only take a few clicks.

Internet sharing is another feature that Microsoft has included in Windows Phone 7.5. The feature gives a user the ability to transform their phone  from a mobile device into a WiFi hotspot. Other devices can then connect to the internet using the phone. It’s a handy feature that will be appreciated by people who have multiple devices that need to access the internet. This feature is device specific though.  Not all devices will be able to access this feature even if their phone gets the 7.5 update in the future.

The Windows Phone OS now includes support for over 47 different languages. This is a polyglot wet dream. Windows Phone will be able to display various languages on its GUI. This even includes simplified Chinese support. The extensive language support is Microsoft’s gambit to make sure that every person can use a Windows Phone device regardless of their native language.

Cloud computing is the hottest thing right now and Microsoft is fully aware of that. That’s why it has integrated usage of SkyDrive in Windows Phone 7.5. With the SkyDrive cloud storage service, Windows Phone 7.5 users can store their files on the cloud and access it at any time they want, wherever they are. Using their internet connection they can sync their device with SkyDrive, ensuring that they have the latest version of the files they have uploaded on to SkyDrive on their phone. Microsoft was the first to really tap the power of cloud computing. In fact, SkyDrive precedes Apple’s iCloud service (which is just going to be integrated into iOS 5), by a significant amount of time.  As an additional feature, Twitter integration will mean that the default image uploader will be SkyDrive. And if an image is automatically uploaded on to SkyDrive, the Windows Phone interface will show the user the photos that have been uploaded using Twitter.

Originally posted on October 13, 2011 @ 6:00 am