At the TechEd 2011 conference, Microsoft shared some more details on new features coming to Windows Phone 7.5 with the Mango OS update. We already know that Windows Phone 7.5 will include turn by turn navigation and new Microsoft Bing features. Now it looks like the update will also add new productivity features.
Microsoft is adding the ability to save and share Office documents through Office 365 and Windows Live SkyDrive, so carrying and accessing your documents will be more convenient.
Mango will include pinnable e-mail folders, which will provide users with quick access to project folders or an RSS feed set up inside Outlook. You’ll also find support for conversation view in e-mail with Mango, officials said. Microsoft’s version of conversation view looks more like threaded SMS than Gmail, which would likely look more organized on a mobile device. Mango also will allow users to search for their older e-mails on their back-end e-mail server, not just the mail stored on the handset itself.
Details on Lync, Microsoft’s unified communications product, were also revealed. The Lync experience, which includes instant messaging, video conferencing and business-oriented features, will be a free download in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Other features include support for complex, alpha numeric passwords, information-rights management for protecting e-mail and Office documents, and the capability to access corporate (hidden) Wi-Fi networks.
While the Mango update for Windows Phone 7 looks promising, Microsoft is fighting against time to make it a selling point. The company is expected to finish coding Mango sometime this summer, then make it available to developers, carriers and manufacturers in time for the 2011 holiday season.
