I’ve been using Microsoft’s new beta smartphone OS ‘Mango’ on my Windows Phone for a few days now so I’ve been able to get to grips with it properly.  The final updated version of the OS will be made available to consumers in the autumn, but until then it’s only available to registered developers through the company’s Connect beta website.

Now people have written online ad-nauseum about the new features in the OS, and other websites are reviewing it.  Here we like to provide you with the information you actually need, so today I’m going to tell you what mango is like to live with and use day to day.

Now some of this is great news, some of it is bad news and some things really badly need fixing.  I’ll go through this feature by feature.

The Lock Screen

One of the biggest problems I faced with my HTC Mozart handset was when I kept the phone in my front trouser pocket, every time I sat down and leant forward to put my shoes on I’d switch it off.  This was hugely irritating.  I’m pleased to say this has now been fixed in mango.  After pressing the power button to switch the phone off, you now also have to swipe the lock screen back down again to confirm you really want to perform this action.  This is a big plus.

What the lock screen still lacks, and this is significant oversight in my view, is the ability to require a password to unlock it if the phone has been left for longer than a user specified period.  I say this is important because we’re all keeping more and more sensitive data on our phones now, and mango makes this even more critical with SkyDrive support in the Office hub.  Not everybody, myself included wants to swipe a lock screen and also have to type in a pass code every time they use the phone.  The lock screen on Android handsets is much better in this regard, but something needs to be done to help with smartphone security going forward. This has now been spotted buried in the OS by an eagle-eyed reader    So, some good news then.

The Calls Hub

The screen you see when you make and receive phone calls has been greatly improved.  Firstly the make and end call button is much larger, but also the additional features (hold, keypad, mute etc.) are now visible all of the time without the need to press an additional button to access them.  This will be a boon for people who access their voicemail often.

The People Hub

Groups have now been added to the people hub and they work really well.  It’s not just lists of phone contacts, but these groups act as mini people hubs in that you still get all their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Windows Live updates.  The main “What’s new” page has also been improved, making it clearer to see what’s been going on in the lives of your family and friends.

In the beta the Twitter and LinkedIn integration features aren’t yet active, but there’s further Facebook integration too with support for chat and events being among the highlights.

The Messages Hub

As I’ve mentioned, Facebook chat support is now integrated but not active by default.  This is a wise move given the inevitable mobile bandwidth it will eat.  Windows Live Messenger is also now supported and the whole messaging hub is prettier with different colours for your and other people’s messages, full emoticon graphics, a “Who’s online” panel and a useful “Threads” view too.

Email

The email app now supports fully threaded emails, which is very useful though it takes a bit of getting used to.  While tapping an email before opened it straight away, the first tap will now open the thread if one exists.  You then need to tap again on the correct email.  A search icon has crept into the toolbar at the bottom right, where the synchronise button used to be (that button has now shifted slightly inwards as a result).  This is hugely annoying for me personally as I tended to hit the Sync button as if on auto-pilot.  Now I find myself doing a search instead and having to pay more attention to what I’m hitting on the phone to sync my email.  Why is a search icon even needed when there’s a hardware search button just below it?  This doesn’t make sense as the hardware search button is supposed to be context-sensitive.  These search buttons have crept into other apps too when there’s absolutely no need for them to be there.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 9 now resides on Windows Phone, bringing with it full HTML5 support, a welcome addition.  It’s been tidied too with the address bar now at the bottom of the screen, closer to your thumb and new features including a useful “Recent websites” option.

Of more concern is the fact that there’s still no way to synchronise your Internet favourites with either your PC or the cloud.  This is a big problem, especially with the new inclusion of SkyDrive support, and one I hope that gets rectified before mango gets its final release.

Calendar

The calendar hasn’t been improved much but benefits from the integration of birthdays and events pulled in from Facebook (and presumably LinkedIn too).  These helpfully display in different colours to you main calendar (all colours are still configurable).  There’s also mentions of Task integration too, which is also mentioned in the accounts sync options.  We can therefore expect to see a full task management app for the final mango release.  This will be a very welcome, and long-overdue, addition to the OS.

The Pictures Hub

Not much has changed here except the front page of the hub has been tidied with new links for “Camera roll” (why roll?), “Albums”, “Date” and “People”.  You can also add your “Favourite” pictures to the hub as well.

Music and Video / Xbox Live

Lots has been said about these hubs so I won’t repeat it here.  Suffice to say that these hubs have been generally tidied with more sensibly placed, and sized, music controls and the addition of downloadable Podcasts.  The Xbox live hub is much prettier than before with a nice light grey background and better support for friends and messaging.

Marketplace

Not much has changed in the marketplace as it was upgraded with the NoDo update.  There is the addition of podcasts here now though which many will find very welcome.

Maps

A useful “What’s nearby” option has been added to the mapping tool and you can now save your favourite places.  Not much else has changed here but the app is generally improved.

The Office Hub

The improvements to the Office hub, most specifically support for hosted documents on SkyDrive was what I was looking forward to most.  This was especially in light of being unable to sync Office documents on your PC with the phones.  Alas this isn’t all as good as you might think.  Yes, it works and does so well and quickly.  It only supports the primary Live account you have set up on the handset however.  This means that if you have several additional accounts set up on your phone you won’t be able to access SkyDrive documents stored in them.  I’m hoping this will be rectified for the final release though it isn’t looking good so far.

Otherwise, Office is another tidying-up exercise with a few new features and better support for other services including Microsoft’s new Office 365 product.

Everything Else

There are a few other things in Mango that are worthy of note.  The custom ringtones feature works well and just as it should.  Many argue this should have been in the first release but it is at least now coming soon.

There are three new features in Settings however that are very welcome.  The first is a “Battery Saver” mode that will turn off some features such as automatic downloading of email and multi-tasking for applications when the battery gets low to conserve power.  This is a useful addition.  Also here is an actual %, yup, you read that right of your current battery charge complete with actual days and hours telling you how long it will last before needing a recharge.

Then there’s the WindowsPhone.com imtegration which includes a “Web Connector”.  This new feature will automatically re-download any and all apps you’ve bought from the marketplace if you have to reset your phone.  This feature will save the majority of people huge amounts of time.

Finally a new “Background Services” feature will tell you what, if any programs are multi-tasking on your handset, giving you the option to switch them off if you want to.

Conclusions

I’m very happy with mango generally but there’s a lot of tidying up to be done including sorting out the preponderance of search buttons everywhere when they’re not needed, proper sync options for Office files and Internet favourites and that lock screen security issue.  Finally the dismiss and snooze buttons on the alarm haven’t changed and, as a result, are still far too small.  Other than that there’s an awful lot to like.  If you’re looking forward to the final release of Mango, my advice would be to get very excited indeed and start saying “I want, I want” a lot online.  This is an excellent update for this OS, and will be welcome by everyone.