Review Date September 27, 2011

Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 'Mango'

  • Pros


  • Cons Doesn't support WiMAX, LTE, or dual-core processors. Local Scout is a failure.
  • Bottom Line


By Sascha Segan

Web and Performance
The new IE9 browser brings Windows Phone up to par with the latest browsers on other platforms. It still doesn't support Flash, but it handles HTML5 and has solid performance. I ran the Browsermark, Sunspider and Guimark 3 benchmarks to test the browser. A Samsung Focus phone running Windows Phone 7 couldn't even complete Sunspider or Guimark 3. The same phone with Mango ran Browsermark four times as fast as the previous OS version.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, the latest Android 2.3 phones and BlackBerry 7 phones run both Browsermark and Sunspider even faster. Even the HTC EVO 4G, a phone using the same application processor as the Focus, got a 31133 on Browsermark compared to the Mango phone's 22155. And while Mango's browser was easy to navigate, including making it easy to click on small links, some complex pages such as an booking page simply didn't load.

More screens also now work in landscape mode, which is critical on sliding-keyboard phones like the LG Quantum and HTC Arrive. Parts of the People hub rotate, for instance. The Maps app and many main menus stayed stubbornly in portrait, though.

I used the WP Bench benchmark to check Mango's performance on two Samsung Focus phones, one with and one without Mango. Mango improved the phone's overall performance score from 48.92 to 61.94, speeding up both CPU and memory access tasks. In my personal experience, screens flipped more quickly, applications loaded more quickly and they displayed data more quickly. It's faster all around.

Mango Apps and Multitasking
Mango brings multitasking to Windows phone, but Mango's multitasking is mixed. Hold down the phone's Back button, and you can switch between the last five apps you used. That's easy and clear, but apps need to be Mango-compatible to take advantage of it. Some apps, such as Bejeweled and Glyder, actually relaunch themselves when you try to switch back and forth. Others manage to pick up where you left off. A very few, such as the Google Reader client gReadie, can update data in the background and display it on their live tiles.

Multitasking brings up the question of third-party apps, another bright spot here. Windows Phone already has about 30,000 apps in its marketplace, which is easy to browse and use. You can find apps on the phone, through the Zune client on PCs, through a Web-based interface, or through other apps and features suggesting apps they'd work well with (a very neat trick.) Microsoft curates its store, so you won't find the free-for-all you get on Android. Most software categories are pretty well represented, but games are a specialty. Many games tie into Xbox Live, letting you get gamer points and achievements. This is part of why our readers picked Windows Phone as the best mobile OS for gaming in our Readers' Choice awards earlier this year.

In terms of the built-in apps, Email and office tasks have both received a bit of a bump. You can merge multiple mailboxes and calendars into one view, or break out individual folders into different home screen tiles. There's a useful conversation view in email, and you can more easily start new calendar entries by typing directly into a calendar line. The Microsoft Office apps now automatically connect to Skydrive, which gives you a decent way to get files onto your phone. You still can't drag and drop files from a local PC, which is frustrating.

Bing Vision is a Google Goggles clone, letting you search for objects by scanning barcodes to return Web and shopping results, or translating text between languages. It doesn't work that well. It couldn't read the barcode on my Samsung Focus box. The barcode on a video game box led to the sales page on a shady retail site I'd never heard of. A shot of a DVD led to a great product "card" with details and sales pages; that kind of result just needs to be more consistent.

The new voice-to-text features are flashy, though I'd prefer if they went further. You can dictate text messages and search for items on the Web using voice commands, and it takes that voice input from a Bluetooth headset - great! I'd like it even more if you didn't have to periodically press on-screen buttons as part of the process.

There are many more features, far too many to list here. It's easier to shuffle all of your music, to download podcasts, and to watch videos in full screen. It's easier to jump to specific apps in a long list. There's more Xbox Live integration. You can use custom ringtones and visual voicemail. Even the phone's volume indicator is clearer. Pretty much everything has been improved, at least a little.

Sascha Segan

Follow Sascha Segan Twitter: @saschasegan
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