In a recent New York City event, Microsoft announced the Windows Phone “Mango” update which brings over 500 new features to the platform. Senior product manager of mobile communications for Windows Phone at Microsoft, Greg Sullivan, said:

When we looked ahead to the next release, we wanted to stay true to the principles of Windows Phone 7 – that software should get out of your way and quickly connect you to the things that matter most,” he further added that: “Mango builds on the work that we did in Windows Phone 7 and extends a lot of key scenarios around communications, apps, and Internet experiences – with even more capability and a deeper level of integration.

Some of the new features in Mango includes:

  • A revamped Bing app
  • Internet Explorer 9 Mobile
  • Threads (with tabs for Windows Live Messenger, SMS, etc)
  • Groups
  • More social network integration (Twitter, LinkedIn)
  • Improved personalized Live Tiles experience
  • Multitasking
  • Quick Cards
  • Multiple email accounts
  • Live Scout
  • Live Agents
  • Built-in voice-to-text/text-to-voice functionality

The update, which was dubbed as “Mango,” will be available for free for all current handsets starting from early fall of this year. The Mango SDK for developers is already available and can be downloaded for free from here.

Some of these features can be seen in the video embedded below:

What other features are you looking forward to in Windows Phone 7.1? If you want to see the entire Windows Phone 7.1 presentation from yesterday, check out the video on Microsoft’s website. And, as usual, stay tuned for more news and info by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.