The Windws Phone platform is a mobile operating system (OS) with a great amount of potential. While it failed to convert too many iOS and Android enthusiasts upon its initial release, it is still a good foundation on which we hope Microsoft will build a solid platform.
As such, the new Mango update carries with it not only new features, but the responsibility of fixing many of the issues that were taken with the original release of Windows Phone 7.
One such issue was the WP7 media player. Yes, it functioned well in a basic way, but offered none of the variety of content or online integration found in modern mobile media services. It seems that in the Mango update the Windows Phone media player has received a fair bit of fine tuning and a few new features.
Smart DJ is one such feature, offering much the same service as Apple’s Genius playlist function. Smart DJ has the ability to create playlists based on a single song, artist or album and even find new music in the ZUNE catalog for users to download.
There will also be a direct-download podcast option. Currently, WP7 users have to download Podcasts to their PC and transfer them to their handset via ZUNE. With the Mango update that will no longer be necessary, as podcast can be downloaded over the air direct to a WP Mango device. There will also be the option to stream podcasts rather than downloading them. This would still use just as much of your data cap, but would save users the hassle of deleting podcasts after listening to them is hard drive space was an issue. The default download method will be WiFi.
There’s also been a number of changes to the basic user interface (UI) of the media player itself. Nothing too amazing or ground breaking, just various tweaks and additions that are standard in other media players but were lacking in the original WP7 design.
We’re definitely glad to see Microsoft taking its customer feedback to seriously. If these media overhauls are any indication we’re excited to see what else the Mango update will do for the Windows Phone platform. It isn’t too late for Microsoft to make its play in the smartphone market and, as always, more choices means more competition and more competition is unerringly best for we, the consumers.
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