MICROSOFT TO UNVEIL NEXT MAJOR RELEASE OF WINDOWS PHONE MAY 24TH

Microsoft has scheduled a Windows Phone event in New York City on May 24th, 2011, during which the company will “lift the curtain on the next major release of Windows Phone.” We know Mango will offer Internet Explorer 9 with an integrated Twitter experience, better multitasking, and new apps such as Angry Birds, Skype, and Spotify. We’ve also heard that Microsoft will add Bing Audio for identifying music, Bing Vision for scanning bar codes, and voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation with Bing Maps, although none of these features have been confirmed by Microsoft just yet.

WINDOWS PHONE 7'S FIRST UPDATE RELEASED; DISAPPOINTS

Microsoft on Monday announced that its first software update for the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system is now available. Unfortunately, this is not the update most users have been waiting for — it does not include the exciting updates Microsoft has been dangling over users’ heads such as third-party multitasking support and better state-saving. In fact, it doesn’t even include support for copy/paste functionality. From Microsoft’s blog:

This first update for Windows Phone is designed to improve the software update process itself. So while it might not sound exciting, it’s still important because it’s paving the way for all future goodie-filled updates to your phone, such as copy and paste or improved Marketplace search.

Users will be notified of the update on their devices, and they will need to connect their phones to a Mac or Windows PC in order to install the new software.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 TO GET IE9, MULTI-TASKING AND XBOX INTEGRATION

Microsoft is planning to introduce multi-tasking and full integration with Internet Explorer 9 in future updates to its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system later this year. IE9 on Windows Phone 7 will use the same core browsing engine as on PCs. Microsoft also talked about the importance of multi-tasking, and claims it can now offer fast task switching without causing serious detriment to the battery life. In particular, Microsoft said, this will improve the experience of using third party applications. In a demo, a Microsoft engineer showed how a music application called 'Slacker' could keep music playing in the background while the user moved between different applications. By holding down the 'back' button, users can also see all their recently accessed applications, allowing them to switch easily between them.