14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's latest operating system for mobile phones, is currently receiving the first major software update, one that was announced in early January 2011.
This update, also known as the NoDo update, was expected to arrive sometime in February, but Microsoft took its time before pushing it out, most probably so as to make sure that the update process would go smoothly.
Just as previously announced, the update would bring forth Copy & paste functionality, along with a series of performance enhancements when it comes to running applications and games, improved Marketplace search, and a series of improvements related to Wi-Fi, Outlook, Messaging, Camera, Audio, and more.
The Copy & paste feature was one of the most awaited enhancements for the Windows Phone 7 operating system. When available, it would enable users tap a word and then drag the arrows to copy and paste it on the phone.
The new feature can be used to copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and then paste it anywhere one can type on the phone.
Microsoft already announced that NoDo would bring app performance improvements, and the update is here with these enhancements, as well as with a better search in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Users would be able to find specific applications, games or music in the Marketplace much easier than before. When searching in the Apps or Games section of the Marketplace, one would see only apps or games in the search results. The same applies to Music.
Other improvements brought to the Marketplace would be related to its stability, to the download of apps larger than 20 megabytes, the upgrade process from trial apps to paid apps, to the sharing of links through email, sorting Xbox LIVE games by release date, or to the creation of an Xbox LIVE account from within the Games Hub.
Following this update, Windows Phone 7 devices would display the phone's Media Access Control (MAC) address in Settings, so that users could connect to Wi-Fi networks that use MAC address filtering. The limit regarding the number of Wi-Fi profiles that can be stored on this device was removed.
In Outlook, Microsoft improved the experience of viewing iPhone photo attachments that are received from non-Exchange-based email accounts, among other. The complete release notes for this software update can be seen here.
The list of changes that the new Windows Phone 7 update brings also includes: - Messaging improvements. We've improved the experience of receiving Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages if your phone uses a PIN-locked SIM.
- Facebook integration. We've improved the experience of syncing Facebook accounts.
- Camera improvements. We've improved the stability of switching between camera and video modes.
- Audio improvements. We've improved the experience of using a Bluetooth headset to make calls when you're playing music or videos.
- Other performance improvements. This month's update also includes software from several phone manufacturers that improves the performance of specific models. Naturally, if you don't have one of the affected models, we won't install this portion of the update on your phone.
While the software update already started to land on handsets out there, it would take some time before all users receive it, most probably one or two weeks, provided that no issues emerge. If they do, the roll-out might get pushed back.