Mango Timing Unclear For Current Windows Phone Users

Mango, with 500 new features, is a major upgrade to Windows Phone 7. But those new features may not be the biggest issue about the revamped operating system announced earlier this year. That would be: When will you actually see Mango on your Windows Phone?

Speculation was swarming around a September 15 release date, but Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore killed that notion when he tweeted that day that the company wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger. Just a week later, the official Microsoft Windows Phone Blog let it be known that the rollout would start "in the next week or two." If this update is like the other updates to Windows Phone though, it is unlikely you'll actually see an update alert on your phone quite so soon.

Microsoft will be updating its "Where's my phone update?" page, just as it did with the NoDo update and some of the smaller subsequent patches. Some of those took weeks and months on some carriers to pass the testing phase and actually become available to their users. There is a separate page for those in the United States and international areas. Neither page shows Mango just yet, but the U.S. page does show Verizon still hasn't pushed out 7392, released in early May, yet. Way to go Big Red!

Even though Belfiore quashed some rumors via Twitter, don't expect a lot of details to be revealed that way, at least not when it comes to partner devices. Windows Phone program manager Joe Marini was let go Tuesday for revealing a bit too much about a Nokia phone, or at least revealing too much of his private thoughts on the Nokia phone. He only rated the phone an 8 out of 10, saying the camera could be better and the screen could be larger. Oops! Not smart being critical of the company that may be Windows Phone's last chance.

Now that Microsoft has told us the rollout is within two weeks, we'll start to see device manufacturers and carriers announcing devices. And maybe for those with a Windows Phone 7 device today, we'll see a timeline on when Mango will be installed on their phones.