Windows Phone 7 "Mango" update coming this fall
We’ve known for a couple of months that Microsoft will deliver a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 for its Windows Phone 7 smartphones, and today the company used the MIX11 keynote stage to show a preview of the new browser, including HTML5 audio and video capabilities.
IE9 for mobile will come this fall when Microsoft issues the “Mango” release of Windows Phone 7, bringing the same HTML rendering, JavaScript engine and code base built for desktops and laptops to phones, said Windows Phone VP Joe Belfiore. Microsoft has described the current version of Internet Explorer on mobile devices as containing a rendering engine that’s “halfway between IE7 and IE8.”
Mobile madness: The 11 hottest Windows and Android tablets unveiled at CES
A phone, obviously, has less robust graphics, processing and memory capabilities, but the same type of hardware acceleration Microsoft built into IE9 for Windows 7 will apply to Windows mobile devices, Belfiore said.
Microsoft made some cosmetic changes, for example making the address bar visible in both portrait and landscape mode for the next release, instead of just in portrait mode as it is currently. Microsoft is also moving the address bar to the bottom of the screen, helping “devote a huge amount of real estate to your content,” Belfiore told developers gathered at MIX11 in Las Vegas.
HTML5 audio applications will be able to continue playing music even after a user clicks out of the browser, just as background audio works with the phone’s regular music player. Belfiore demonstrated the Boston Globe’s website showing a video using the H.264 video codec within the WP7 browser, and also ran an on-stage speed test against Android and the iPhone.
The demo showed WP7, Android and iPhone simultaneously running the HTML5 speed reading test, with Windows Phone 7 easily beating out Android and the iPhone.
The Speed Reading test is hosted on the Microsoft.com website, so the result is really no surprise. Google and Apple likely have their own tests showing different results.
In any case, MIX11 has been packed with updates about Microsoft products for the past couple of days. Belfiore talked a bit about how Mango will be more appealing to developers and connect users to apps more easily. Microsoft also showed a preview of Internet Explorer 10 for PCs, and talked about what went wrong with the Windows Phone 7 updates. (See also: Microsoft says it learned key lessions from Windows Phone 7 update fiasco.)
