Mango Keeps Rolling Out To Stragglers

Given the past history of Windows Mobile updates, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the Windows Phone 7.5 upgrade, called Mango, was rolled out. It was instantly available to almost every network and every make of phone. Being the first big rollout like this for Microsoft on its phone platform, it took a cautious approach by trickling the update out to users over three weeks before pushing it to everyone, but that was a minor speed bump compared to previous updates. Still, there were a few phones that didn't get updated, but most of those are getting the software upgrade now.

AT&T, Microsoft's "Premier" Windows Phone Partner in the states, had several phones that didn't receive Mango right off of the bat, including the HTC HD7, HTC Surround, LG Quantum, and Samsung Focus versions 1.3 and 1.4. Now all of those are getting the update, including the Focus 1.4 which became available Thursday. In the U.S., that just leaves the Dell Venue Pro. Way to go Dell. That is the best advertising you can do for your competition.

Internationally, Telefonica wasn't on the ball like the rest of its European counterparts, but it has finally finished testing on the Samsung Omnia 7 phone. It is in the "scheduling" phase and Microsoft has committed to rushing out the upgrade rather than taking the normal two weeks to pull the trigger.

While Mango had over 500 improvements, it also, like any major update, introduced a few bugs. One of the most annoying for a certain segment of its users is a totally broken Exchange 2003 experience. When replying to an email, the only thing that was sent was your new text. The rest of the reply was removed, which often leaves recipients baffled about what you are talking about. Forwarded emails were similarly broken.

Microsoft has finally acknowledged the issue, but it appears only a few carriers are interested in releasing this fix for now. At least, I think it is releasing the update. As of Thursday night, the update history page had the following entry at the top of the list:

Update 7.10.7740.16 Email threads. Fixes an email issue related to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. With this fix, when you reply to or forward a message, the original message is now included in your response. Voicemail. Fixes a voicemail notification display issue. This update is available only in certain markets.

As of Friday morning, this update listing has been pulled. I hope it is a matter of Web pages being updated across various servers and not a matter of the update being pulled. Even more important, I hope that the update is made available globally by all carriers, not just in "certain markets." Last time I checked, Exchange 2003 was in use globally, and the issue affects everyone with Mango that hasn't upgraded to Exchange 2007 or 2010.