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Microsoft Unveils WP7 “Mango”
Have you been anxiously awaiting for the much anticipated and much rumored about Windows Phone 7 Mango update? Well read on for some of the features that was revealed during Microsoft’s conference! As we all know Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 did not do as well as they had hoped, nor did it create any serious competition for the iOS or Android platforms either but they are now hoping with the Mango update for their WP7 operating system, and several new partners that would manufacture their WP7 devices, things will start to change for them. Read on for the features.
Some of these new features include:
- Threads – the ability to switch between text, Facebook chat and MSN Live Messenger within the same conversation.
- Groups – group your contacts into live tiles that will show status updates, quickly send text messages, e-mail or IM to the entire group.
- Social network integration – LinkedIn and Twitter feeds are now built into contact cards, Facebook check-ins are also built in and there is face recognition technology too which will help tagging photos.
- Linked inbox – Multiple e-mail accounts in one inbox which are organized in such a way that will make it easy for you to stay on top of things.
- Hands-free messaging – There will be built in speech-to-text and text-to-speech meaning you will be able to have conversations or send text messages hands free.
- Multitasking – Apps can now be run in the background while preserving battery life and performance and app switching will be easy.
- Internet Explorer 9 – WP7’s native browser which provides the power of a PC-based browser and supports HTML5 and hardware-accelerated graphics.
- Improved Live Tiles – If there was a feature that I liked about WP7 it would the tiles and how neat and organize it makes the phone look. With the update the tiles will now provide live and up-to-date information.
These are just some of the many new features that will be appearing in the update that is expected in the fall. If you want to see more features or see them in action, just head on down to Windows Phone’s YouTube Channel for some videos!
The Fairphone 2 was first unveiled in June earlier this year, where this particular handset carried a modular design while featuring majority of its components that have been sourced from conflict-free mines. It seems that this particular handset that you can purchase with a clear conscience has begun to ship to those who happen to live across Europe.
Fairphone announced in a blog post, “It’s been almost two years in the making, and some of the earliest buyers have been patiently waiting since July to receive their new phones. As community manager, I want to personally welcome the new batch of Fairphone owners to our community.” The initial 1,000 units are tipped to ship this month, before the other pre-orders follow in January 2016.
In terms of hardware specifications, the Fairphone 2 will run on a Snapdragon 801 chipset, has a 5″ 1080p screen with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, with Android 5.1 Lollipop in tow. It will be a dual SIM capable handset with a microSD memory card slot and plays nice with 4G LTE networks, retailing for approximately €525 a pop.
It is quite a feeling to have a smartphone getting the latest operating system update up and running, that is for sure. After all, you can never quite tell just what kind of goodies that your handset would receive now, can you? Those who are rocking to a Windows Phone 8.1 device might be looking forward to spending Christmas with a Windows 10 Mobile update but it seems that such hopes will have to be shelved for the moment.
It seems that there will be no Windows 10 update arriving this month as originally speculated, and the time frame itself has been altered, being even more vague in nature – where it has been mentioned to be “early next year”, which could jolly well mean any time, even in April. Looks like patience needs to be had in boatloads here.
It looks like the upcoming flagship model from Xiaomi will feature NFC support, at least based on a document that was released by China UnionPay. Just in case you are scratching your head and wondering who China UnionPay is, they happen to be the only domestic payment gateway supplier and card organization, and hence, to see them offer detailed support concerning the newly released NFC-based payment system points to the very real possibility of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 featuring NFC capability.
After all, the Xiaomi Mi 3 was also mentioned on the list, which so happens to feature NFC, and there is no mention of the Xiaomi Mi 4 which does not come with NFC. Still, such a new payment system would be the ideal tool to see the reintroduction of NFC to the flagship model.