14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based software giant Microsoft is getting ready to update once again its mobile operating system, called Windows Phone, a move that should take place sometime in fall.
The next flavor of the platform, called Mango, was already said to bring forth a wide range of enhancements, though it seems that not all of the new features it would pack were unveiled to the the world as of yet.
One of the unannounced enhancements would include Visual Voicemail, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.
Basically, this would be a list of all voicemails one has received, enabling one to access transcribed or non-transcribed versions of these messages.
The much expected Mango update should include the new feature into the mix, a recent tweet from @WindowsPhone8 reads, but no other details on the matter were made available as of yet.
Other mobile platforms already include the feature, and Microsoft's OS would soon get in line with them, it seems. However, nothing is official on this for the time being, and it might all prove to be only a rumor.
Along with the next Windows Phone release, Microsoft is also expected to stop tracking devices, and this is a feature that would certainly make it in Mango.
Amid accusations that mobile phones are sending to their makers info on the location of users, Microsoft explained that the only purpose for which Windows Phone collects such details would be to offer an enhanced experience when location services are involved.
Windows Phone was designed to collect device identifiers, and even store them for a limited period of time, but only in this idea. However, things have already started to change, and Mango would mark the final phase of the process.
In a letter (PDF) to the US House of Representatives, Windows Phone chief Andy Lees explains:
While collecting device identifiers can help assemble and refine a database of available WiFi access points and cell towers more quickly and effectively than without them, these identifiers have diminishing value over time.
Given the declining utility of device identifiers, Microsoft recently discontinued its storage and use of device identifiers.
Further, as part of its next scheduled update to existing Windows Phone 7 devices, updated devices will no longer send device identifiers to the location service and new phones arriving this fall will not send device identifiers to the location service.
So, there you have it. As soon as Windows Phone Mango arrives, Microsoft would stop tracking our devices. How would this affect the experience of various location services available for the OS, it remains to be seen.