Windows Phone Mango new features

We’ve all heard that there are 500 new features in Windows Phone 7.5 AKA Mango and a whole bunch of them have been all over the internet. Well I’ve just upgraded to Mango (How see here ) so here’s what I’ve noticed straight away:

In messaging, it now colours your messages a different shade than the other person…makes it easier to see who said what at a glance

If you’ve scrolled down the live tiles on the front screen…press the <—Back button and it zooms you back to the top. Simple but nice!

Hold the Search button when you’re on the Lock Screen and BOOM, it opens Bing (Can be turned off in settings)

Bing Audio works really well

Windows Phone jumplists now for applications. So if you have over a certain amount, you get the letters to help navigate through like in contacts…very handy!

When in the camera, press anywhere on the screen to take a picture.

Camera settings such as Flash on/off, image quality etc all persist after you exit the camera, so they’re still there next time. That is awesome as this was a big annoyance for me…

These are all great features that have jumped out at me pretty much straight away.

These is one feature that I’ve been looking forward to for ages that seems to be a disappointment though…adding tracks to a playlist on the device.

It’s easy to add 1 track to a playlist but I cannot figure out how to get another one on there! Also, if you’re playing a song that’s part of an album and you select “add to playlist” it appears to add the entire album.

Hopefully someone will work this out and/or future update will make it more intuitive

Well that’s me done for now but rest assured, you’ll almost certainly see more of these posts from me over the coming days/weeks!

How to make a custom ringtone for Windows Phone Mango

Microsoft’s update to Windows Phone, Mango, brings the ability to create your own custom ringtones from MP3’s etc – which is great.

It’s not quite as easy as Android, where you just long hold an MP3 and “set as ringtone” so here’s a little guide on a good way to do it…via a great Windows Phone site:

1800PocketPC

They recommend doing it the way I’d do it anyway so I find this the best route…however you may have different programs you like to use etc.

Head over to the link above and then get started with some custom ringtone action

ps: If you’ve not got Mango yet – check this post out:

Read How to Get Windows Phone Mango Right Now

How to Get Windows Phone Mango Right Now

It’s official, Windows Phone Mango AKA Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 has been released and is now being filtered through mobile carriers out to users.

I was most disappointed to discover earlier that T-Mobile have not started this process for Samsung Omnia 7 users in the UK – and most of Europe I believe. Why this is the case I don’t know…but after the mess that was the NoDo update, I was NOT a happy man! However I came across a post on the WPcentral blog:

http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software

This gives a simple, step by step guide on how to “trick” Zune into giving you the update now. At first I was a little unsure but decided to just go for it…and it worked a treat. It took about 1 hour to to do 2 updates, 7304 (pre-Mango) and then 7720 (Mango itself) and now I’ve got all the awesome good stuff like custom ringtones, Bing Audio, Threads, Groups etc

I’d recommend you click the link above so that WP Central get all the clicks they deserve but just in case it falls over though sheer traffic etc, here are the steps:

Steps to force a Mango update on phones for which Mango has started rolling out:

1. Connect your Windows Phone to a PC and launch the Zune software
2. Click on Phone > Settings > Update. Allow the software to tell you whether an update is available. If so, skip this guide. If not continue to the next step.
3. Time to force the update. Click another button (any of the options above or below the word Update). Then click the Update button again, and this time disconnect your computer from the internet after 1-2 seconds. Do this by pulling out the Ethernet cable, disabling Wi-Fi, etc. If it says your phone is already up to date, you didn’t disconnect quickly enough and need to try this step again.
4. Wait 30 seconds or so and Zune should display a notification that an update is available. This is 7392, the first Mango pre-update.
5. Now reconnect to the internet and continue with the update process through the Zune software.
6. After 7392 is fully installed, you may receive a notification that another update is available. If so, install it now. If not, proceed to the next step.
7. If the second update isn’t popping up on its own, repeat steps 3-5, causing the 7403 update to appear.
8. Install 7403, brave reader. Speeding right along, isn’t it?
9. Mango time! At this point, Zune should automatically start installing the last update, 7720, aka Mango. If it doesn’t happen automatically, force it like we did in previous steps.

 

Again, big thanks to WP Central…