Windows Phone Mango–coming soon to a phone or store near you

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As I‘ve talked about regularly on this blog about Windows Phone v. 7.5 a.k.a. Windows Phone Mango, the General Availability of this significant update is approaching quickly.  It was announced earlier this week on the Windows Phone Blog that the schedule for when existing devices will be able to upgrade to Mango will be out soon.  The actual software development process of Windows Phone Mango completed two months ago when the Release to Manufacturing of the software occurred and was delivered to carriers around the globe.  More detail on that can be found on this post.  Carriers have already started talking about specs of phones that will carry Mango from Day 1.  For example, AT&T posted a press release on details on both New 4G phones that will be out on their network later this year, as well as confirming that the update to Windows Phone Mango will be available for all current Windows Phone devices sold by AT&T.  Other carriers in the U.S. are expected to follow suit and also make available the Windows Phone Mango update for all the devices on their respective networks as well. 

Why is this so important?  There are so many new Windows Phone Mango features to talk about, I could literally write for hours.  Literally hundreds and hundreds of features have been added, and we’re not just talking the regular kind of features you expect on a smartphone, but truly innovative features like Voice-to-Text,  subscription-free voice guided navigation, SkyDrive features, and much, much more.  I put together a post outlining some of my favorites a while back, but that only even scratches the surface.  I’ll be doing a very complete Windows Phone Mango post the update, so be sure to check back here.

In the meantime, if you have a Windows Phone 7 device (or are considering getting one), the best thing to do to get ready for your update is to download and install the new Zune 4.8 software.  For those of you who already have Windows Phone 7 devices, the Zune 4.8 software will be required to get the Windows Phone Mango update.  This version of the Zune software has enhancements targeted explicitly at the Windows Phone Mango upgrade process making the process quicker, as well as adding some additional phone backup options along the way.

Enjoy!