Michael Collado Archive

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Our top 6 most anticipated Mango features

By
Michael Collado
– June 30, 2011

Windows Phone Mango, the latest version to the mobile operating system, has been gaining good press and traction ever since its announcement almost a month ago. The media has summed up Mango as an update worthy of making Windows Phone feel complete, even if it’s not due for about a year since its debut. Here at Zunited, we welcome Mango with open arms since the update brings a couple of features we’ve been longing for… and ones we’re pleasantly surprised about.

We decided to name our own most anticipated features, respectively per writer, here at Zunited. The result is the following list with Zunited’s most anticipated features coming in Mango, in alphabetical order by writer (and make sure to tell us yours after you’re done):

 

Better SkyDrive integration
Michael Collado

One of the best features I outlined in our review of Windows Phone when the operating system first came out was the SkyDrive Camera Roll. No longer did anyone have to worry about accidentally deleting that one-in-million shot; you could trick your friends into thinking you deleted that embarrassing picture of them. You always had a backed up copy in the cloud, and it all happened without you even thinking about. (The best part, perhaps, is that if you wanted to transfer pictures to your computer, you could just download them from online.) SkyDrive integration gets even deeper with Mango.

Now you can save and work on documents in SkyDrive on your Windows Phone device. And in combination with Office 356, there’s no need to worry about where that document is saved and if you have a copy with you. It’s brilliant. Pictures also get a bit of an enhancement, since now you can send pictures to people from SkyDrive via instant message, email, or text. And even better is that you can finally send, share, and whatever else videos as you can images.

Microsoft has stated you can search through SkyDrive folders, but they have yet to say if it officially works with music. When, or if at all, it does, SkyDrive (and Windows Phone) will be unstoppable.


Multitasking
Javier Guajardo

After months of waiting, Multitasking has finally arrived to Windows Phone. Now with the Mango update, third party developers will be able to add functionality for downloading something when an app is closed or update an app at a set time so that when you open it, it’s already updated. The potential is huge. But with Windows Phone there’s even better ways to multitask; compared to others like iOS, third party developers will now be able to make live tiles, showing live updated information, which is huge for the glance and go philosophy. And last but not least, the implementations is awesome, the cards view is useful and very well designed, making app switching super fast in Windows Phone Mango.

 

Internet Explorer 9
Austin Madgwick

Internet Explorer 9 on Windows Phone will be bringing much more to the table than just better speeds: it’s also bringing HTML5. Microsoft has claimed that it will be much faster than before, it will make way for you to view the web pages better with more animations, and just simply get more out of your browser. Perhaps the best part about HTML5 in Internet Explorer 9 in Mango is it negates the requirement to have an audio player or video player. That means you can now stream music and watch videos from your WP7 browser, not having to leave to open an application.

 

Threads (or integrated chat)
The Pes

If there is one thing that Microsoft wants you to understand about Mango it’s this: Social Integration. One way or another, Microsoft has embedded some form of social group based integration into the fold of WP7.5. Whether that’s accessing your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts from the people hub, or allowing a much more integrated experience of Facebook throughout the phone experience.

This goes for messaging as well, and this is one of the reasons Mango has me excited about the platform. The movement towards a unified messaging system is welcomed by yours truly. With Mango, the ability to receive messages from IM, SMS, and Facebook chat will bring a level of cohesiveness not found on any other smartphone right out of the box. It’s simplicity and convenience at its best. Having one messaging thread that spans through different social group mediums and keep it nice and tight is wonderful. No more rummaging through different apps to keep a single conversation stream. It’s all unified, and all a click away. It’s what the Kin (rest in peace) wanted to be, but it’s what will set WP7.5 apart from the competition.

 

Games Hub enhancements
Tyler Rowe

Most of us who game on our Xbox also participate in the online gaming network known as Xbox Live. For many people, Xbox Live is one of the main reasons that they even purchased an Xbox. Mango is offering a Myriad of new features designed to not only get you in your game faster and easier, but to make staying connected with all of your gaming friends much more natural as well.

Besides a revamped, cleaner look at your games list and an updated 3D avatar, the entire Xbox Live communication system has been revamped to promote more Xbox to Windows Phone interaction. All of the features that were once a part of the Xbox Live extras app are now fullly integrated into the game hub. You may now send and receive messages from other Xbox or Windows Phone users, view which friends are online at any given moment while being able to tell what game they are playing too, you may accept, reject, or initiate any friend request as well, all with side-by-side game achievement comparisons with your friends right in the palm of your hand.

Lastly, you can respond to multiplayer game requests right on your phone. Since accepting a hardcore game, like Call of Duty, request isn’t possible currently, we can assume that these request notifications go deeper within the Windows Phone Windows Phone interaction category. With this little hint, I don’t think it is wrong to assume a completely revamped multiplayer option will be coming with the Mango update.

 

Smart DJ
Jon Young

You want to know what I am most looking for from this whole Mango update? Smart DJ. The reason is simple, Pandora is not making a WP7 app as of this article. I have used Slacker and Last.fm, but there is always a pro feature to buy and do I really want to pay more to enjoy the music I already pay for with Zune Pass? Slacker’s Premium subscription is $9.99 a month which includes all “Pro” features and the feature to play songs on demand) while its Pro subscription is $3.99 a month with No-Ads and the ability to skip songs. Last.fm has similar options but none of them really hit me like Smart DJ away from my house; Last.fm offers a $3 a month model that allows: no ads, gives you server priority, and more of the same.

Now, with Smart DJ you are your own personal Internet Radio Station. The Zune HD has had Smart DJ for a while but now coupled with an unlimited data plan, you can rock whenever you please.

7

Editorial: Zune is a brand. Windows Live is a mess. And the two together is…

By
Michael Collado
– February 15, 2011

*Too long; didn’t read notation below

“The Zune brand is dead! Off with Microsoft’s head! The end is where we’ve been lead!”

In the news today is that Microsoft is trying to slowly, but very surely, kill of the Zune brand name. They want to take all of the elements from Zune and move it to other services, like Xbox and Live and maybe even Xbox LIVE. The result: outrage from Zune users all over the Internet clamoring away that their favorite music service has gone the way of the DoDo.

Our friend, Travis Pope, posted an editorial earlier today on ZuneSpring that stated the exact reason most of this is just a lot of bull… droppings. A statement by Paul Thurrot ignited into an Internet phenomenon and has taken over. And while that in of itself isn’t enough credibility that Microsoft is, in fact, killing off the Zune brand (regardless of how much they didn’t say “Zune” instead of “music app” at MWC this week during their keynote) it’s important to note one thing.

Thurrot said that Microsoft wants to kill of the Zune branding.

Read the rest of this entry »

0

Editorial: Hey Microsoft, can we get reviews for songs, too?

By
Michael Collado
– November 5, 2010

Welcome to the Social.

Or at least the somewhat Social. It’s the slogan Microsoft has ingrained in our brains whenever it comes to Zune and anything related to it–so much so they released an actual social network around the idea. The execution behind that network can sometimes leave something to be desired. And high on that list: reviews.

Counter point? Songs in their entirety can be listened to on a multitude of different mediums and even when they can’t, there are 30 second previews. For the more fortunate, there’s Zune Pass where you can download entire music collections and delete them on a whim without any reprucussions!

The problem: Well that’s not the problem. If the issue was because you need a better idea if you will like this song or that music video then the same could be said about applications. Windows Phone 7 apps are allowed to let you try before you buy them… and if they don’t (which is a poor decision), even the least popular applications get demoed on YouTube. It all goes back to being Social.

The Zune Social already posts every single song that you listen to whether you want it or not, from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Ke$ha to N.E.R.D. to N’Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” because you just can’t get it out of your head this week! Don’t your friends (erm, “friends”) deserve to know whether or not you liked that song in the first place? I shouldn’t be pigeonholed because I listened to Enrique Iglesia’s “I Like It” once and didn’t like it (just re-read this and noticed the pun, sorry about that). In fact, if you think about it, this is even more of a problem for Zune Pass users since they most likely test out their listening habits on Zune than anywhere else.

Adding reviews to songs, music videos, movies, and TV shows–especially TV shows and movies if you agree with the check-out-the-reviews-before-you-buy philosophy!!–adds that social entity that the Social has been lacking. My Zune Social friends don’t get anything from my current Social feed other than the fact that I listened to a song. But that doesn’t say anything about my experience with that song. It doesn’t tell you if I liked the song, if I hated the song, or if I feel quite apathetic about the song. I can’t tell my friends why I decided to give Song A a broken-heart, perhaps because I couldn’t care for the auto-tuning; I can’t tell my friends why I hearted Song B, perhaps because it’s just addictive. All my friends see is a stream of what I’ve listened to and they’re allowed to judge (yes, me if I’m listening to too much N’Sync) their own habits and try to expand them through me. Surely, if I play a song multiple times I like it more than if I played that one song that one time.

But what about the times I didn’t listen to that song? What happens if I’m sharing my account with other members of my family? What happens when I’m a DJ, like our very own Jon Young, and am requested to play “I Like It” every single time? Then playing a song constantly doesn’t exactly equate to being a fan of it. That’s where reviews and ratings come in, to offer a sense of balance between those margins of error and to better align you with other members and friends who feel about music the same way you do. And let’s not even get into television, movies, and podcasts where there’s no measure of knowing how you’d like that media.

A few weeks ago I was about to write a Zune Social vs. iTunes’ Ping article where Ping took the cake. And in a way, the same is true here. I don’t want to make this a pro-Ping argument because that’s not what it’s about… but at least Ping manages those social features slightly better in some ways. Thankfully, for now, you can post a song as your favorite on the Social, but will you post every single song you like as a “favorite” in that connotation? I wouldn’t. And I don’t, currently.

Reviews: a smaller way to make the Social just a tiny bit more social. Or at least a tiny bit more effective.

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