Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" Update Now Available

Microsoft has been hyping the Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" update for quite some while now. They have been claiming that it will be the biggest update for WP7 platform, so the hype is understandable. We took a quick look at WP7.5 in May, but didn't have chance to go deeper. Today, Microsoft has announced that they have finally started pushing the WP7.5 "Mango" update to their customers. 

There is one obstacle though. Microsoft says they will be releasing the update gradually, meaning that only certain phones and carriers will get the update today, while others will get it sometime between now and the end of October. Microsoft has not published which models and carriers will get the update first, but by the end of this week, roughly 10% of WP7 owners should be able to update to WP7.5. The availability will then improve progressively during the four week period if no major bugs are found. 

Microsoft is claiming that this is because most smartphone OEMs want to customize the update with their own apps and drivers - hence Microsoft isn't delivering just one update, but many slightly different ones. It also helps them to isolate and fix possible issues quickly and without affecting the whole user base. This easily brings you the idea that Microsoft is using the early adopters as beta testers, but hopefully this is not true. 

We covered some of the new features in our preview (linked above) but Microsoft has also released a longer list of new features, and it's available here. Brian has also already installed WP7.5 to his HTC Surround, so expect to hear our first thoughts soon!

If you own a WP7 phone, please share your WP7.5 update experiences in the comments. We can then update this article with phones and carriers which have already received the WP7.5 update. 

Source: Microsoft