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Ballmer Says "Over 500 New Features" Coming in Windows Phone "Mango" Update
This morning at a Japanese event Steve Ballmer said that Windows Phone 7.5 (codename “Mango”) will bring “over 500 new features” to the mobile platform, according to Paul Thurrott of Windows Phone Secrets. Microsoft will also announce new hardware partners as well.
Let’s hope this isn’t just a bunch of hot air, as tomorrow Microsoft is set to “lift the curtain” on the next major update for Windows Phone tomorrow.
Here are a few features rumored to be coming in this major update:
- Bing Vision – Scan QR codes, Microsoft Tags, barcodes, products and product images.
- Bing Audio – Much like Shazam, which will identify a song by using the microphone on the device.
- On-device podcast support – The ability to subscribe to and download updates of podcasts right from the device.
- SMS Dictation – You can dictate SMS messages to the phone, along with having the phone read messages to you.
- Visual voicemail
There is quite a bit more than that, but we do know multitasking, IE9 Mobile, SkyDrive support, and integrated Twitter will be coming in the update for sure.
If Paul Thurrott is allowed to do so, he will be live blogging from the event from his Windows Phone Secrets blog.