Microsoft has finally showcased some of the new features that would be part of the next major update to their Windows Phone mobile platform.
Windows Phone 7 Mango would feature 500 new functionalities. Some of the major ones are highlighted below:
– Background processing
– New profiler and emulator for testing
– Use of Silverlight + XNA together
– Silverlight 4
– IE9 web browser control
– Live Tile enhancements: use of back of tiles and ability to update Live Tiles locally
– Deep linking into apps from notifications and Live Tiles
– Additional sensors; direct camera access, compass & gyro
– Fast application switching
– Networking / sockets for communications
– Local SQL database for structured storage
– Access to calendar and contacts for apps
Microsoft showcased improvements in integration with third party services like Facebook and LinkedIn. This update is looking solid though it would only be out by autumn this year.
