Microsoft Starts Broad Delivery of the Mango Update

Three weeks ago, Microsoft introduced its latest update to Windows Phone, codenamed Mango, bumping the version number to 7.5 while bringing more than 500 features to the table. Now Redmond is flipping the switch on the updates as it starts delivering on the wide range.

Eric Hautala notes on the Windows Phone Blog that they're "fully opening the spigot — slightly ahead of schedule — and making Mango available to nearly everyone in the current delivery pool". While this is great news, it doesn't mean that there aren't isolated issues like for instance in France, where Orange and Microsoft work in order to fix problems preventing "full throttle" roll-out.

Passing the ball back to the carriers, Microsoft notes that the update for a couple of devices is "still undergoing carrier tests" but Redmond is "prepared to expedite delivery of Windows Phone 7.5 to you once carrier testing is finished". 

RIM Execs Deny Multi-Platform BBM Plans

Turns out the rumors around RIM's BlackBerry Messenger coming to Android and iOS were just rumors but it was nice while it lasted! Company officials have recently denied any plans of making the service multi-platform.

Alec Saunders, RIM's VP of Developer Relations and Christopher Smith, Senior Director of BlackBerry Development Platform have dismissed all rumored information regarding BBM o other platforms. During a press event at DevCon, Saunders said "he wasn't aware of it" and Smith noted "there were no plans for it". Of course that doesn't mean that it will never come; it just means that the two execs were either poorly informed, hiding something or, face it, there really were no plans! 

Andy Lees: Windows Phone Sold Bettter Than Android In First Year

Microsoft's President of Windows Phone, Andrew Lees, the one who recently spoke about LTE and dual-core chips inside Windows Phones, spoke to Ina Fried at AsiaD on various aspects of Windows Phone.

First of all, Lees noted that Windows Phone actually sold better than Android in its first 12 months. Of course, the market last year, when Windows Phone joined the game, was different that the market back in the day when Google brought the world Android. He also noted that "Android is very techy" but that it is a great OS addressing a certain segment of the market. It brings a grid of icons and apps contrary to Windows Phone which is taking a "people approach".

On the Apple side, Andrew Lees noted that people can also talk to their Windows Phones but a Siri-like implementation is not "super useful." Windows Phone's speech approach relies pretty much on Bing, which brings "the full power of the internet, rather than a certain subset," like the case of Siri and Wolfram Alpha.

Last but not least, he noted that the Nokia event coming soon will bring a wide range of Windows Phones, pretty much in the vein of Steve Ballmer that mentioned "a bunch" last time we checked. 

Samsung Page Lists Seven Galaxy Nexus Carriers, VZW First?

So this will probably answer the question we asked earlier regarding the carriers which will feature thenew Samsung Galaxy Nexus in their line-up. According to the phone sign-up page, there are seven network operators listed.

AT&T, Cellular South, Metro PCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon are all in the drop-down list named Carrier preference over at an official page which takes your information in order to deliver news about the phone. Another interesting bit comes from Samsung's Facebook page where people were initially told that Verizon will get the Galaxy Nexus first with other carriers added later. Later there came an update saying "no U.S. carrier has been determined yet".

Judging by the list of seven above and the rumors of an initial Verizon exclusive, the rep might have been right in the first place but such information wasn't supposed to be public that way. Or not! 

Microsoft Unveils Pictures Of AT&T Samsung Focus S, Focus Flash

A little bit more than a month ago AT&T made its Windows Phone Mango line-up public and the HTC Titan, Samsung Focus Flash and Focus S are part of it. While we've seen the HTC Titan get launchedand even reviewed it (the European model), there was no real information regarding the Focus Flash and the Focus S.

To be quite fair, everyone was expecting the Focus Flash to be the American variant of the recently announced Omnia W just as everyone was expecting the Focus S (probably Omnia S outside the U.S.) to be a Windows Phone powered GalaxyS II. Those who believed that appear to be right as Microsoft made the first official pictures available of the two phones.

Last time they did this to the ZTE Tania, an announcement came just a little bit after so we're expecting official wording from Samsung any time now. On to the phones and let's start with the Focus S! Is that a Galaxy S II in your pocket? No, it's the Focus S!

It's the same device we've seen in the wild, looking shamelessly like the manufacturer's Android flagship. It will run on a 1.4GHz processor and feature a 4.3-inch, WVGA Super AMOLED Plus display. The maincamera is a 720p-capable eight-megapixel shooter, while the front-facing webcam clocks in at 1.3 megapixels. All the rest is just Galaxy S II on Windows Phone. You just need to imagine that Super AMOLED Plus screen offering true blacks behind the Tiles on the Home Screen!


The Focus Flash, pretty much like its Omnia W cousin, packs a 1.4GHz single-core processor, 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display with WVGA resolution, 8GB Internal Storage, five-megapixel main camera with auto-focus and flash (720p 30fps video recording capable), and VGA front-facer.




To take a look at the HTC Titan for AT&T which is pretty much like the European one we've already seen, follow the source link below!

Update: The official AT&T Press Release which unveiled the trio of Mango phones listed the Focus S and Focus Flash as both running on a 1.4GHz processor. The official Windows Phone site talks about theFocus S 4G and Focus Flash 4G as being powered by the same 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU. Either Samsung changed the processor along the way or one of the two sources has the wrong specs. Also, the European Omnia W has a 1.4GHz processor so, you be the judge!