The Windows Phone 7.5 release offers hundreds of new features and experiences designed to build on the phone’s intuitive, “people-first” foundation – multitasking, more integrated apps, excellent mobile web browsing, and powerful and personalized tools, like integrated social networking and conversation threads, for connecting with the people in our lives.

With Windows Phone 7.5, you still get touchscreen Web browsing and all the apps you love. You also get everything that makes a Windows Phone unique, including Windows Phone Hubs, a Start screen you can make your own, Windows Phone Live Tiles that provide updates at a glance, and Xbox LIVE, Office Mobile and the award-winning Zune entertainment experience built-in. In fact, through our focus on modern communications, a smarter approach to apps and making the Internet work for you, you get everything you liked about Windows Phone 7 and more, including hundreds of new features, enhancements and under-the-hood improvements


The software is linked to your Live ID, much like Android phones are linked to a Google Account. If you have Xbox Live, Hotmail, Live Messenger, or one of Microsoft's other services, you already have a Live ID to use. By using your Live ID and linking it with social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, etc. many of your built-in hubs like People and Pictures will automatically pull from and push to those services.



With Windows Phone 7.5, Microsoft aims to simplify the workflow for the most common functions people use their phones for. It integrates services as they make sense rather than relegating everything to its own specific application.




Bing for Mobile gives you access to our popular Bing daily home page. Just tap in the search box to display the soft keyboard and, as you begin typing a search term, Bing will automatically make suggestions based on your favorites, search history and popular search terms on the Web today.



The Bing home page changes daily, providing new images with hotspots that you can tap on to help you discover fun facts. You’ll also see your present location, telling you that Bing knows where you are and is ready to deliver location-aware search results.
In Windows Phone 7.5, Microsoft enhanced Bing Search by putting buttons, such as Local Scout, Bing Music, Bing Vision and Voice Search, at the bottom of the screen.




Ever wonder why Ben the 'PC Guy' always picks finding a local restaurant as as speed challenge in #smokedbywindowsphone? Local Scout is why, this feature comes pinned to the start menu on all new windows phones and is a way to find things of local interest without having to type anything.



Tapping on Local Scout either from the start menu or from the search page gets your windows phone connecting to GPS and the 'net to pull sites of interest to your phone, once it's worked out your location it returns results for Eat + Drink, See + Do, Shop and Highlights.

Tapping any result within Local Scout will bring up an information card for that result, which will contain useful information such as the Venues contact details,
reviews of the venue (if available), the option to get directions to the venue from your current location and a link to the venues website (if available).

Local Scout is available here:
and only on devices with 512mb memory or more.




This can only be accessed from the search page by tapping the Eighth note (quaver) icon, tapping this icon and holding your phone to a music source your phone will recognise the song and then allow you to open the Zune music marketplace to buy/download the album/song. Not quite as capable as Shazam or Soundhound it's a nice feature to be available.



Microsoft saw fit to include a barcode / Microsoft Tags / QR code text reader straight in at OS level, this allows for some cool usage as barcodes and QR codes are all around use now.

Using the phones camera to scan a products barcode you can check instore prices against those online, comparison results are provided by Ciao!

QR codes are commonly being used for advertising campaigns now, to save people having to type a web address you just scan the QR code and get linked to the website, other uses are for contact details, time tables basically anything that's quicker to scan than type can be put into a code.

Vision search also supports OCR which can be used in a couple of ways this first being you can scan a news article from your morning paper, after scanning the article Bing will bring up the web version of the article for easy reading on the go.



The feature will work with over 30,000 publications. Hopefully chances are almost every major publication you can think of will supports the service.

The other way the OCR can be used is to translate text, once in vision search tapping scan while the camera is over text will take a photo of the text, if the OCR is good and the language is recognized you will get the option to translate the text.

Vision search is only available in these regions:




Voice search is available from the search hub, tapping on the microphone icon will activate voice search which can interact with Local Scout if the search is considered to be a search for an activity / event i.e.


Voice Search is only available in the regions :




Tellme is Microsofts equivalent of Apples Siri. The service can be accessed from anywhere by pressing and holding the Windows key.

commands you can use are :-

Call

Find

Open

Text






Zune is an essential part of the Windows Phone 7 experience. Much like iTunes on the Mac, Zune is the way to interact with your media and your Windows Phone on your Windows PC.
You can buy or rent music and movies from the Zune marketplace, buy apps for your Windows Phone or just stream the entire music collection from the Zune marketplace with your Zune Pass.

With Zune right built into the Music + Video hub, every Windows Phone 7 becomes a Zune. You'll be able to purchase music and apps from your device and with Zune Pass you can stream millions of songs over WiFi and 3G.



For the Windows Phone 7.5 launch, Microsoft extended the availability of the Zune service.

Zune Music Pass:
The Zune Music Pass subscription service offers unlimited music streaming and is available in following countries:

Zune Music:
The Zune Music marketplace offers over 10 million DRM-free songs and is available in:

Zune Video:
Video purchase is available in:
Movie rental is available in:

Podcasts
The Podcast section of the marketplace is only available in the US.
A workaround is available in the FAQ.

Unlike the Zune Client for Windows, Microsoft actually improved the included music player and even added some new features.

• Playback controls are larger, more discoverable and more consistent, and they don’t get lost in background images. They also added new playback options, more media information and an indicator that shows when you’re streaming content.
• Save a Playlist. Save your Smart DJ mix or your Now Playing queue as a new playlist on your phone.
• Smart DJ is designed to provide just the right mix based on the songs on your phone, or if you've got a Zune Music Pass, you can stream them from Zune.
• Podcasts Marketplace. Subscribe to podcasts (audio or video) on your phone.
• Lock Screen Controls and Artist Images. Playback controls are displayed on the Lock screen whenever you’re playing music. Your phone can also dynamically display artist images for the music you’re playing on the Lock screen.

For the Mango release, Microsoft slightly upgraded the the specs for devices, allowing faster CPUs, front-facing cameras and gyroscopes.



Those are the updated requirements for new phones with the OS version 7.5. However, every first generation phone on the market will run Windows Phone 7.5 just fine. To find a list of the first generation Windows Phones, check out the Windows Phone 7 |OT|.



























OS:

Engadget
The Verge
TechRadar
Supersite for Windows
PocketNow

Phones:

HTC Radar
Engadget
Pocket-Lint
WinRumors
Know Your Mobile
The Verge

HTC Titan
Engadget
Neowin
The Verge
cnet

Samsung Focus S
cnet
WPCentral
PC World
PocketNow
TechSpot

Samsung Omnia W/Focus Flash
PhoneArena
Engadget
cnet
SlashGear
PC Mag

Nokia Lumia 710
All Things D
Engadget
The Verge
TechRadar
cnet

Nokia Lumia 800
The Verge
cnet
TechRadar
Engadget
SlashGear

Nokia Lumia 900
ABC
Engadget
The Verge
All Things D
PocketNow




The next major release of Windows Phone is codenamed "Apollo" and is going to be Microsoft's next big step to compete in the smartphone market.

Microsoft has yet to officially announce "Apollo" and only confirmed that it will run apps coded for Windows Phone 7.

However, in February PocketNow was supposedly able to obtain an internal and confidential video, in which Senior Vice President of the Windows Phone division, Joe Belfiore, details many of the new features in the upcoming major release. Shortly after the leak, the Microsoft insider Paul Thurrot was able to confirm the details mentioned in the PocketNow leak.

The PocketNow leak:

Hardware changes

• Apollo will add support for multicore processors
• new screen resolutions (a total of four, although actual pixel counts weren't specified)
• removable microSD card storage
• NFC radios will also be supported, with Belfiore placing specific emphasis on 8's push into contactless payments.
• tap-to-share capabilities will reportedly work across multiple platforms, allowing desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones to all share content.

Windows 8 integration

• it will use many of the same components as Windows 8 (the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support)
• Windows Phone 8 will reportedly scrap integration with the desktop Zune client
• Microsoft is bringing back a (presumably) richer version of ActiveSync after letting that program die out for the most part.
• The Xbox Companion app, currently found on Windows Phones, will see a partner client on Windows 8.
• Skydrive support promises seamless sharing of data between devices; Belfiore gives the example of instantly having one's music collection available on a newly-purchased Windows Phone, without the need for a PC sync.

Application ecosystem

• addition of native code support
• app-to-app communication
• a revamped Skype client that hooks directly into the OS, letting Skype calls behave almost identically to regular, non-VoIP telephony
• The camera will now be based around so-called lens apps: Microsoft provides a basic camera interface that can either be skinned by OEMs or overlaid with viewfinders from third-parties.

Data management



Business support

• native 128-bit full-disk BitLocker encryption
• "line-of-business" applications are also gaining support, allowing businesses to deploy proprietary, tailored software behind their company firewalls

Please keep in mind that none of the features mentioned are confirmed by Microsoft

Other rumors:

Support for new form-factors:
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...l-new-windows-phone-designs-uncovered-1061094

Apollo for all devices:
Microsoft Evangelist Nuno Silva confirms in a video that all current Windows Phones will get the Apollo update.
http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-ev...handsets-will-be-upgraded-to-windows-phone-8/

Apollo for no devices:
All over the internet

Will it run old Windows Mobile apps?

How do I install apps?

Who will distribute the system updates?

Microsoft released a new OS update, but I didn’t get a notification. Why's that?

Do I need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to use Xbox Live on the phone?

I’m using the Zune desktop client for the first time and I can't find any podcasts in the marketplace

Why isn't the Zune Pass available in Germany?

I have a Mac. How can I sync my files?

Which codecs are supported in Windows Phone 7.5?

How can I sync Audiobooks with my Windows Phone?


I downloaded/updated the Zune software and now every time I try to play an MP3, the software is using 1 GB RAM or more. How can I fix this?


Is is possible to run homebrew apps on Windows Phone?


How can I sync my music tracks and custom ringtones with my Windows Phone?


I've heard that Mango supports tethering/internet sharing and visual voice mail, but I can't find any settings for those features?

Well looks like mod finally noticed that we are way over due for OT2.

Last post from the preivous thread...



DO WANT.

antiquegamer said:

Well looks like mod finally noticed that we are way over due for OT2.

Click to expand...

In future, we do appreciate if someone just PMs a mod when it's moving close to the limit and no one seems willing to make a new thread. This applies for all threads. Sometimes we don't notice everything, and there's a reason why we want to keep the threads capped at about 20k. :/

What's the highest page count a thread's ever reached? 222 pages is pretty impressive...

duckroll said:

In future, we do appreciate if someone just PMs a mod when it's moving close to the limit and no one seems willing to make a new thread. This applies for all threads. Sometimes we don't notice everything, and there's a reason why we want to keep the threads capped at about 20k. :/

Click to expand...

a new thread was going to be made in a few days when the lumia was launched.

Nope, this won't work. I say brot just launch the new OT with whatever he has and we edit from there.

Haha, was wondering when the thread would finally get shut down.

Windu said:

a new thread was going to be made in a few days when the lumia was launched.

Click to expand...

I thought they had PMed the mods, guess not. Let's just leave this thread to die and launch the 900 thread a week early.

Well it looks like I have to get used to a new thread.

duckroll said:

In future, we do appreciate if someone just PMs a mod when it's moving close to the limit and no one seems willing to make a new thread. This applies for all threads. Sometimes we don't notice everything, and there's a reason why we want to keep the threads capped at about 20k. :/

Click to expand...

hwalker84 said:

Well it looks like I have to get used to a new thread.

Click to expand...

*waves hand* this isn't the thread you are looking for.

Aw yeah can't wait for Mango!

giga said:

Aw yeah can't wait for Mango!

Click to expand...

Notsureifserious.gif

frontieruk said:

Notsureifserious.gif

Click to expand...

OP said:

Live Tiles automatically update on your home screen with information. In addition to applications and hubs, you can set individual bookmarks, contacts, maps, songs, and more as their own tile for quick access. With the upcoming Mango update, Microsoft takes the concept of Live Tiles even futher.

Click to expand...

Pretty stoked to see what's in store for all of us.

Still not sure if serious....

derFeef said:

Still not sure if serious....

Click to expand...

Got to give him props for keeping it rolling...

Giga is making fun of the fact that the op wasn't changed for this new thread guys, lighten up.

Okay, I've merged an older post by brotkasten into this thread so it can become the new OP whenever someone finds the time to create a thread OP for whatever it is you guys want. Just PM me if you want a title update when that's done, and I'll delete my placeholder OP.

All I can say is.


Finally. I was wondering how long we could go for without being noticed.

I was here on page 1 of quasi OT2. Before it was cool. Heh, if any help is needed to get some things written up, Linked out, lemme know.

Video previewing a bunch of the upcoming XBL games.
http://www.wpcentral.com/see-upcoming-xbox-live-games-action

I think Civ Rev is supposed to be out this week, can't wait. I will also get Carcassonne and Pinball FX. Nice that Carcassonne has online play and that Pinball FX has score linking with the 360 version.

Appooooooooollooooooooooo!

Bored, and slightly fristrated, with my iPhone 4S but can't muster the enthusiasm for any other mobile OS right now. The pace of development and updates feel so slow :/

Ah here we go! Seeing my old venue pro up there keeps on reminding me of what a sexy lookin phone it was!

I'm looking forward to hearing more feedback about the 900 when people in the thread get it. Is anyone going with black?

SCHUEY F1 said:

I'm looking forward to hearing more feedback about the 900 when people in the thread get it. Is anyone going with black?

Click to expand...

Once you go Cyan, you never go back.

Milchjon said:

Once you go Cyan, you never go back.

Click to expand...

I do want Cyan, just concerned that Rogers in Canada won't have blue right away. The pre-orders are black only and nokia.ca only lists the 900 in black

I have read that the black looks nice in person.

SCHUEY F1 said:

I do want Cyan, just concerned that Rogers in Canada won't have blue right away. The pre-orders are black only and nokia.ca only lists the 900 in black

I have read that the black looks nice in person.

Click to expand...

My dad owns a black Lumia 800, I have a Cyan one. It's nice, but certainly not to the same extent IMO. It's a tad boring, although of course you have a bit more freedom with the WP7 colors. Cyan/White/Magenta Lumia 800/900 > Black iPhone 4S > Black Lumia > every other smartphone I've seen.

I dont think I heard anyone talking about istunts 2, but I just got the trial and its a lot of fun, plus it's an xbla game. What am I missing, this game seems like a mobile version of trials HD, but I'm hesitant to buy it cause I haven't read any hype on it. Anyone here have it?

Is it a database/performance problem with threads getting too big? Just curious...

dLMN8R said:

Is it a database/performance problem with threads getting too big? Just curious...

Click to expand...

yes

SCHUEY F1 said:

I do want Cyan, just concerned that Rogers in Canada won't have blue right away. The pre-orders are black only and nokia.ca only lists the 900 in black

I have read that the black looks nice in person.

Click to expand...

Knowing Rogers. We won't get the white lumia. Which if true. I will buy an iPhone ...... Again.

Complex Shadow said:

Knowing Rogers. We won't get the white lumia. Which if true. I will buy an iPhone ...... Again.

Click to expand...

I really hope they get all the colours. One nice thing about the 900 on Rogers is that it won't have Rogers branding.

Watching the review on Engadget for the HTC One X.... That would be a killer looking phone with WP7 as the OS

It's been a bumpy ride folks.

The 900 looks amazing.

SCHUEY F1 said:

I think Civ Rev is supposed to be out this week, can't wait..

Click to expand...

Wednesday allegedly

Looking forward to the Lumia 900 launch.

I can't wait to play with the Lumia 900 this weekend. I may actually jump ship from Android to WP because of the hardware. Looks sick.

hwalker84 said:

Watching the review on Engadget for the HTC One X.... That would be a killer looking phone with WP7 as the OS

Click to expand...

Agreed. It's the first HTC phone I don't think I'd mind as a hand-me-down, or put more bluntly, first HTC phone that doesn't look like an HTC phone in a long time. If this is any indication of where they're going design wise, then I'll be looking at HTC again. When you see the 900 and the One compared, it's obvious they're getting somewhere. Looks good.

Commodore said:

Agreed. It's the first HTC phone I don't think I'd mind as a hand-me-down, or put more bluntly, first HTC phone that doesn't look like an HTC phone in a long time. If this is any indication of where they're going design wise, then I'll be looking at HTC again. When you see the 900 and the One compared, it's obvious they're getting somewhere. Looks good.

Click to expand...

I was impressed when I saw the pics, but then I watched a video review. It looks awesome as long as it's turned off, once you're greeted by the Sense/Android interface though...
Also, I never realized how huge it is. Although I'd love a WP7 device with that design.

I doubt we'll see anything good devices from anyone who isn't Nokia Unless wp7 gains an amazing amount of market share soon.

edit: oh shit we're in community. NUUUUU.

Complex Shadow said:

edit: oh shit we're in community. NUUUUU.

Click to expand...

wtf this thread is dead then.

Are all OTs moving here?

So I used up all my bing rewards I earned when I signed up and never used (87) on contest entries to win a 900 (btw, win a Lumia 900 contest is happening over there). I have 60 entries in the bucket. #onlywaytogetoneistowinone

Milchjon said:

I was impressed when I saw the pics, but then I watched a video review. It looks awesome as long as it's turned off, once you're greeted by the Sense/Android interface though...
Also, I never realized how huge it is. Although I'd love a WP7 device with that design.

Click to expand...

Yeah the pics were just ok but the video looked pretty amazing. I like how they took queues from Nokia with the screen kinda merging with the polycarbonate shell. I'd take a WP7 Apollo clone of this device. Now that HTC is starting to bring it I can't wait to see what Nokias next big thing is.

kharma45 said:

wtf this thread is dead then.

Are all OTs moving here?

Click to expand...

What is the difference between Off Topic and the Community sub forum anyhow? I get Gaming and Community. Recent news/threads/OTs, then moving on to ongoing gaming communities. But off topic discussions/OTs, then going to communities of off topic...topics? Either way, best to subscribe to this thread then.

EDIT: Just realized I'm no longer a Junior. I feel the same.

Commodore said:

What is the difference between Off Topic and the Community sub forum anyhow? I get Gaming and Community. Recent news/threads/OTs, then moving on to ongoing gaming communities. But off topic discussions/OTs, then going to communities of off topic...topics? Either way, best to subscribe to this thread then.

Click to expand...

Community is for continued discussion around a topic, so we could create a Nokia 900 launch thread in OT as once the launch dies down all the discussion around the handsets should move back to general wp7... but knowing the community it wouldn't happen like that.

I think EviLore envisions it working like this for American Football :-

Community :- NFL megathread, general discussion of teams, players, day to day things
OT :- Play off thread
OT :- Superbowl thread

basically OT is for passing threads some quick news, a particular sports event, a hardware launch not Gaming related.

Community is for on-going discussion so Android/iOS/WP7 etc will be in community.

Commodore said:

EDIT: Just realized I'm no longer a Junior. I feel the same.

Click to expand...

Congrats

I doubt that setup, as evilore envisions it, will work. I guess we will see, but having OT's be more visible is what helps participation. Burying them in the community section will mean it'll be the same 8 posters rather than having outside folks jump in from time to time, and potentially become regulars as well.

But back to wp7, anybody had any luck getting anything lower than $99 for a family line upgrade on the 900?

frontieruk said:

Community is for continued discussion around a topic, so we could create a Nokia 900 launch thread in OT as once the launch dies down all the discussion around the handsets should move back to general wp7... but knowing the community it wouldn't happen like that.

I think EviLore envisions it working like this for American Football :-

Community :- NFL megathread, general discussion of teams, players, day to day things
OT :- Play off thread
OT :- Superbowl thread

basically OT is for passing threads some quick news, a particular sports event, a hardware launch not Gaming related.

Community is for on-going discussion so Android/iOS/WP7 etc will be in community.



Congrats

Click to expand...

Ah, so temporary/recent, versus static/ongoing. Thanks, on both counts.

VanMardigan said:

I doubt that setup, as evilore envisions it, will work. I guess we will see, but having OT's be more visible is what helps participation. Burying them in the community section will mean it'll be the same 8 posters rather than having outside folks jump in from time to time, and potentially become regulars as well.

But back to wp7, anybody had any luck getting anything lower than $99 for a family line upgrade on the 900?

Click to expand...

I did say

frontieruk said:

but knowing the community it wouldn't happen like that.

Click to expand...

but eventually we'll fall in to these habits, if only by mods closing threads, and temp bans for not following posting guidelines, but I personally think it's a change for the better placing all the mega threads in one place it's cures the issue of having to have sticky threads to prevent interruption of newly created threads as an older one remains on the active list as it's continually updated.