Windows Phone Mango hands-on (photos)

CNET editors Bonnie Cha and Jessica Dolcourt walk you through a cross-section of some of the most notable new and enhanced features in Windows Phone Mango, due out this fall.

Jessica Dolcourt, Bonnie Cha

June 20, 2011 9:00 p.m. PT

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Slicing into Windows Phone Mango

We got a look at Windows Phone Mango--now also known as Windows Phone 7.5--before Microsoft's OS update rolls out this fall. Apps gain new life outside of the Marketplace in Mango, also showing up as search result suggestions for relative searches for movies, businesses, and products.

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App integration

You'll also be able to find relevant apps in a new section in the Music + Video and Photo hubs, so long as the publishers have enabled the feature on their end. It may take time to see the list populate after Mango's launch.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Marketplace

Windows Phone Marketplace gets some enhancements as well, including new search suggestions as you start to type. Music matches predominate, but you can also reduce your typing when searching for games, apps, and podcasts.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Bing

Voice search moves to the bottom of the Bing app and is joined by icons for three new features.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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New features in Bing

From left to right, the new Bing tools are Local Scout, Music ID, and Bing Vision.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Local Scout

Fire up Local Scout and you'll get a map and options for viewing local happenings and hangouts, complete with Bing map access (the map expands and becomes interactive.)

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Music ID

Like Shazam and other music "soundprinting" apps, Bing's Music ID app listens to recorded music and matches songs with the Zune database.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Bing Vision

A neat idea with unfortunately inconsistent results, Bing Vision can scan bar codes, QR codes, Microsoft tags, covers of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, and posters for deeper searching. It will also attempt to translate text.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Not always right

Like all scanning apps to date, Bing Vision doesn't always get it right. A scan for the bar code of a Sublime album yielded a result for a different artist.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Multitasking

Microsoft has added an easy, practical way to switch among open apps. Just press and hold the Back button below the screen (faded in this shot.)

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Internet Epxlorer 9

Internet Explorer 9 gets some back-end changes to speed performance and protect privacy, but what users will immediately notice is the newfound ability to upload Web links to social networking sites, such as Facebook, for instance.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Group contacts

Creating a group contact list is as easy. Simply select which contacts you want in a group, assign a name, and save.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Messaging in group contacts

Once you've created a group, you can send an e-mail or text message to all the members.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Group contacts

The new group contact feature also lets you see status updates and photos from just the members of that group and not your entire address book.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Pin to Start

In addition to pinning individual contacts to the Start screen, you can also pin group contacts to the main home screen as well for easy access.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Dynamic live tiles

In Windows Phone 7.5, live tiles provide more real-time information, such as a contact's status update or any notification, such as a new message or a missed call.

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Twitter and LinkedIn integration

Though we weren't able to try this feature out, Windows Phone 7.5 will bring Twitter and LinkedIn integration to the People hub. Tweets and status updates will show up in the What's new pane, just like in Facebook.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Linked inbox

With Mango, you'll now be able to link your e-mail accounts.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Conversation view

E-mail threads are now grouped together, so you no longer have to scroll through every single message trying to find a response. Each thread is clearly marked and can be easily expanded and collapsed with a tap of the screen.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Smart DJ

One of our favorite things about Windows Phone is the Zune integration, and it only gets better with Mango. A new feature called Smart DJ creates playlists using the content on your phone (or the Marketplace if you're a Zune Pass subscriber) based on what you're currently listening to.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Smart DJ playlists

You can view Smart DJ playlists in the history pane of the Music + Video hub, or you can save them to your phone and share them with friends via e-mail.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Podcasts

Mango also adds the ability to search, download, and subscribe to podcasts right from your phone. Previously, you had to connect to your PC first and use the Zune software.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.

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Video player

The video player now lets you jump to any point of a clip.

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Xbox Live

Currently on Windows Phone 7, you have to download an extra app from the Marketplace to customize your 3D avatar, view your achievements, and connect your friends. However, this will be standard out of the box with the Mango update.

Read our full Windows Phone Mango review.