Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows Phone Mango SDK Beta 2 Refresh, which offers a tweaked updating process to compensate for two areas of potential trouble. The update also offers a screenshot capability built into the emulator, and a locked down application platform API.
Just recently, the Windows Phone development team officially announced via a blog post that they had signed off on the release to manufacturing of Windows Phone 7.5 code-named Mango. Mango is expected to bring many new features to the Windows Phone platform and has been highly anticipated.
“For the folks wondering why we’re not providing the ‘RTM’ version, there are two reasons. First, the phone OS and the tools are two equal parts of the developer toolkit that correspond to one another. Second, this OS is close enough to RTM that, as a developer, it’s more than capable to see you through the upcoming [Release Candidate] drop of the tools and app submission,” said Cliff Simpkins, a product manager for Windows Phone 7.
In addition, the Zune client will now automatically check for subsequent updates every time it completes an update, sparing users from having to engage in the process more than once. “We’ve updated the server logic in the first update (739x -> 7401) to better account for ‘Walshed’ (unofficially updated) phones and phones that had the support tool run incorrectly on them,” Simpkins added. “Second, the Zune client has been updated to link your updates into a single update run.”
Windows Phone Mango offers over 500 new tweaks and features, according to Microsoft. We get to see a redesigned Xbox Live Hub, home-screen tiles capable of displaying up-to-the-minute information, the ability to consolidate friends and colleagues into groups, and visual voicemail in the mango update.
Further reading: Mango, Windows Phone 7
