Mango Looks Yummy

[StandingInAlley]

Microsoft unveiled a range of new features on Wednesday for its next release of Windows Phone.

Speaking at the MIX11 developers conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft revealed that it?s planning a beta release of a new set of developer tools that will help developers create Windows Phone apps that are even faster, more capable, and better integrated with Windows Phone. The new tools will be available in May for Windows Phone developers. Microsoft also detailed its plans for ?Mango?. Microsoft?s next Windows Phone release will include:

Application multitasking for background processing, audio and file transfer, and fast application switching

Deeper phone integration so apps can, for example, take better advantage of the versatility of Live Tiles

Access to the camera and Motion Sensor library so developers can build apps that incorporate device hardware and build augmented reality experiences

Microsoft?s MIX11 keynote is ongoing but the company plans to unveil Skype, Spotify, Layar, Qantas, Amazon Shopping and Kik Messenger applications.

Microsoft is also planning to include the following developer enhancements for ?Mango?:

Live Agents create superior customer engagement with real-time interactions via Live Tiles, Push Notifications, Deep Linking and Background Agents. Multitasking is also enhanced to allow for fast applications switching, as well as background audio and file transfer.

Phone integration has been greatly improved for developers wanting to do more with their apps. The Live Tiles functionality has been expanded to give developers more flexibility and engage with their customers better.

Developers will have access to the Motion Sensor library and the camera, enabling augmented reality experiences. The integration extends deeper into the operating system via sockets and database access now available to apps and games.

Microsoft is also planning to expand on developer opportunities for Windows Phone. The company will expand its Marketplace to 35 countries, up from 16 with the first version of Windows Phone. ?We?re doubling the number of countries that support creation and commerce, and we?re creating parity to the countries that only supported creation before and didn?t have the ability to sell their apps,? Brandon Watson said. ?From an opportunity standpoint, that?s huge.?

http://www.winrumors.com/microsoft-unveils-windows-phone-mango-improvements-for-developers/

1500 New API's

[George P Global Moderator]

I can't wait, it's really a huge update and the idea of background agents is cool.

[FMH]

I'd like a mini-Kinect instead of camera. And IE10 instead of IE9 in Mango.:yes:

[George P Global Moderator]

It's official, Manga brings full silverlight 4 to WP7.

1,500+ new API, that's huge.

[HawkMan]

IE10 won't even be done for desktop for Mango...

not even half way. and I'd really like to know whatcountries are comign next for marketplace (and I'd assume Zune), say Norway.... Say it... Google managed to get Scandinavia in it's second wave, so they should to.

[George P Global Moderator]

IE10 won't even be done for desktop for Mango...

not even half way. and I'd really like to know whatcountries are comign next for marketplace (and I'd assume Zune), say Norway.... Say it... Google managed to get Scandinavia in it's second wave, so they should to.

They had a map I'll have to hunt it down real quick.

[Prince Charming]

The big stuff, made small:

• Activity based multitasking (think extremely similar to the iPhone's implementation).
  
• Multiple live-tiles allowed per app. Deep links - so you can have a tile send someone to a specific part of the app.
  
• Animations on live tiles.
  
• Compass access and Video access.
  
• 'Motion Sensor' access. This is a nicely wrapped up way of accessing the compass and gyro. Provided by MSR.
  
• Sockets (huge. enables SSH apps, VOIP, IRC, FTP clients. everything network bound that's not HTTP).
  
• Access to contacts.
  
• On-device local database. This will be an MSSQL CE db, with OR and LINQ.
  
• Addition of ringtones by apps.
  

Appwise, Spotify, Layar, Skype, Amazon Shopping, and Quantas apps will all be making it to the device for fall.

Pretty huge! Oh, edit - the Mango SDK will be out next month. They are (to quote Joe Belfiore) currently 'waiting on a delivery of unicorn tears'.

[George P Global Moderator]

The big stuff, made small:

• Activity based multitasking (think extremely similar to the iPhone's implementation).
  
• Multiple live-tiles allowed per app. Deep links - so you can have a tile send someone to a specific part of the app.
  
• Animations on live tiles.
  
• Compass access and Video access.
  
• 'Motion Sensor' access. This is a nicely wrapped up way of accessing the compass and gyro. Provided by MSR.
  
• Sockets (huge. enables SSH apps, VOIP, IRC, FTP clients. everything network bound that's not HTTP).
  
• Access to contacts.
  
• On-device local database. This will be an MSSQL CE db, with OR and LINQ.
  
• Addition of ringtones by apps.
  

Appwise, Spotify, Layar, Skype, Amazon Shopping, and Quantas apps will all be making it to the device for fall.

Pretty huge! Oh, edit - the Mango SDK will be out next month. They are (to quote Joe Belfiore) currently 'waiting on a delivery of unicorn tears'.

The multitasking sounded different to me actually, Joe said it's background tasks devs write but the OS manages with set rules and users can turn on or off. So unlike iOS4 they don't seem to be limited to 7 or w/e background services that Apple has going but let devs write what they need with some limitation depending on if you're on battery power and or wifi etc. Sounds way way better and more advanced.

[zombieChan]

I'm excited for Sockets, we'll be seeing a bunch of better created apps. Can't wait.

[George P Global Moderator]

I'm excited for Sockets, we'll be seeing a bunch of better created apps. Can't wait.

Ya, they had a demo of an IRC app, need that now!

[Prince Charming]

The multitasking sounded different to me actually, Joe said it's background tasks devs write but the OS manages with set rules and users can turn on or off. So unlike iOS4 they don't seem to be limited to 7 or w/e background services that Apple has going but let devs write what they need with some limitation depending on if you're on battery power and or wifi etc. Sounds way way better and more advanced.

Yeah. There's slightly more to it behind the scenes than iOS, and it seems more refined and a better system overall. I said it was like iOS in strong contrast to it being like Android's multitask solution (or rathermore, lack of a solution by letting apps free-for-all it), and its approach is definitely similar with activities. It seems that an app might request to be checked every now and then, and how often it's checked on by the OS will likely depend on whether it wants to access a network or what it's doing, what the battery state is and what connections are available. We'll all know more when the tools are available next month!

[HawkMan]

• Addition of ringtones by apps.
  

Does this mean we can't add any zune song to a ringtone even then, but have to buy/download the ringtone as an app. well at least someone shoudl be able to make a ringtone maker then, that lets you grab a song or sound from somewhere and add it in... I guess. I hope it also means custom sms and alarm signals, and preferably by contact. after all they know people want it, they even added per person online sounds to WLM...

[George P Global Moderator]

Yeah. There's slightly more to it behind the scenes than iOS, and it seems more refined and a better system overall. I said it was like iOS in strong contrast to it being like Android's multitask solution (or rathermore, lack of a solution by letting apps free-for-all it), and its approach is definitely similar with activities. It seems that an app might request to be checked every now and then, and how often it's checked on by the OS will likely depend on whether it wants to access a network or what it's doing, what the battery state is and what connections are available. We'll all know more when the tools are available next month!

We might not have to wait that long, the 2 multitasking sessions later today about it should give us quite a good idea.

[HawkMan]

haven't the WP7 multitasking already been shown of by MS in videos a while back =

[George P Global Moderator]

haven't the WP7 multitasking already been shown of by MS in videos a while back =

They showed the fast app switching and the app switcher back at MWC ya, but this time they showed/talked about more details like the new APIs and stuff.

[BajiRav]

I want to be excited by all new announcements today but another bit of bad news for us AT&T usersin the states. In short, don't expect anything Mango on AT&T phones till mid-2012.

I fully expect that the mango will be rotten by the time we get to taste it.

[Limit-Studios]

Cannot wait to get my hands on the developer tools so much can be built now with the new APIs

[lalalawawawa]

Yummy, yummy, yummy! :laugh: Can't wait! :D

[George P Global Moderator]

In the Q&A they just said live tiles can be updated without the need for a online server and it can just use a background process.

[giga Veteran]

The multitasking sounded different to me actually, Joe said it's background tasks devs write but the OS manages with set rules and users can turn on or off. So unlike iOS4 they don't seem to be limited to 7 or w/e background services that Apple has going but let devs write what they need with some limitation depending on if you're on battery power and or wifi etc. Sounds way way better and more advanced.

Source? I watched the Channel 9 interview with Joe and the crazy lady and I still got the impression that developers had to hook into the background agents in Mango such as audio, file transfer, and so on. The part about Live Tiles not needing a network connection sounds like local notifications (albeit more interactive and accessible), but nothing about letting a third party app run all of its code in the background.

[George P Global Moderator]

Source? I watched the Channel 9 interview with Joe and the crazy lady and I still got the impression that developers had to hook into the background agents in Mango such as audio, file transfer, and so on. The part about Live Tiles not needing a network connection sounds like local notifications (albeit more interactive and accessible), but nothing about letting a third party app run all of its code in the background.

It was said in the keynote, they let users control them as well so you can turn any background tasks an app could have on or off. They'll show what the UI for that will look like in one of the sessions later today. They're still working out the exact details but it seems that the OS will allow for them to run with different limits depending on if you're on battery or main power and if you have wifi etc. This was all stated in the keynote by Joe.

[~Johnny]

And nice enough for Brandon to answer my question, it seems us developers will be getting early access to Mango. Hopefully carriers can't slow that down as well :L

[George P Global Moderator]

And nice enough for Brandon to answer my question, it seems us developers will be getting early access to Mango. Hopefully carriers can't slow that down as well :L

Oh cool, you asked that question? I was watching the video haha. I think it makes sense though, tools in May and then dev phones get early access to get their apps ready. Probably around June-July I bet. No reason to have a large gap between the release of the tools and dev phone updates imo. But only time will tell in the end.

[giga Veteran]

It was said in the keynote, they let users control them as well so you can turn any background tasks an app could have on or off. They'll show what the UI for that will look like in one of the sessions later today. They're still working out the exact details but it seems that the OS will allow for them to run with different limits depending on if you're on battery or main power and if you have wifi etc. This was all stated in the keynote by Joe.

Hm, I wasn't able to watch the keynote so I guess I'll wait until the details of the multitasking session are posted but I still have my doubts they would allow the full application code to run in the background. I mean, when is a user not on running on battery or have either Wi-Fi or 3G on? We'll see. ;)

[George P Global Moderator]

Hm, I wasn't able to watch the keynote so I guess I'll wait until the details of the multitasking session are posted but I still have my doubts they would allow the full application code to run in the background. I mean, when is a user not on running on battery or have either Wi-Fi or 3G on? We'll see. ;)

No no, it's not the FULL app. Devs can write specific parts that run though, probably following some presets and or hooking into the background API that will manage them. So like, you can write an app and have a background agent that checks for updates on it's own (without going through the push notification system etc). Or something else, I can't think of an example right now.

Joe said it's a middle ground between what iOS does and Android, you don't have free control and apps don't just sit there running fully but you have the ability to write your own background tasks that you need though the OS will control them/limit them so battery life doesn't go to hell. So it's more flexible than the preset background services apple has which you are limited to.

They said stuff like background audio and file transfer as well, but I figure those are things that are done by the OS and any app can use so you don't have to write those on your own.