Though most of its features were already common knowledge, Microsoft has put a date – and, indeed, official name – to the next major update to hit Windows Phone 7.

Or, rather, Windows Phone as it appears the platform will now be known, with the previously in-house only 'Mango' moniker now used publicly to describe the next version of the OS.

It's an update that outstrips the ambition of the previous two, incorporating general refreshes to existing features and services – HTML5 support for IE9, Twitter integration to the People feed and improved live tiles – as well as completely new ones.

Super sync

Of most note is Microsoft's ambition to blur the lines between apps, and the platform's integrated services such as Bing.

App Connect on Mango will directly link any searches you make via the phone's Bing client with apps that can aid your hunt. For example, searching for a book online will also bring up apps in your collection where you can buy said title, either digitally or via mail order.

Touching such an app will take you directly to the product in question, making it easier for the user and – from the developer's viewpoint – increasing interaction with their titles.

"Mango builds on the work that we did in Windows Phone 7 and extends a lot of key scenarios around communications, apps, and Internet experiences – with even more capability and a deeper level of integration," said Microsoft's manager of mobile communication, Greg Sullivan.

"Windows Phone stitches all of this together for you and connects the applications you have on your phone, or that we have in the marketplace, to the rest of what you're doing, in a way that's much, much deeper than any other platform."

Friendly phone

As previously announced, multitasking will also be a major addition delivered in Mango, as well as an overhaul to communications tools that links Facebook chat with Windows Live Messenger and SMS messages.

"Our friends are people – they’re not apps," Sullivan added.

"Mango makes it super easy to put people first then lets users chose the way they want to communicate."

Windows Phone is set to be bolstered by new hardware partners too, with Fujitsu, Acer, Toshiba and ZTE serving up handsets, as well as new Mango equipped devices from existing partners Samsung, HTC and LG.

Microsoft claimed that Windows Phone Marketplace remains the fastest growing app store on the market, with 17,000 apps on board since launch.



[source: Microsoft]