News

Great news came yesterday for Windows Phone owners. Angry Birds is now on Windows Phone! I haven't played it myself, but apparently it's one of the best games ever. Also, they've announced that custom ringtones will be made available in Mango! This is one of the things I've critisized them for in my coming Windows Phone article. I can appreciate that they've taken the time to use the Zune software to keep the ringtones you create out of the music collection in the phone. I've run into that issue with Android in the past.

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Custom ringtones are coming.

If there’s one request we’ve heard over and over since launching Windows Phone last year, it’s this: More ringtones, please! I’m the program manager for the “sound experience” on the phone—everything from ringtones and alarms to alerts and key clicks. Today I wanted to take a minute to tell you about the ringtone-related changes in store for Mango, the next version of Windows Phone arriving this fall.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2011/06/28/now-in-marketplace-angry-birds.aspx

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2011/06/28/ringing-in-mango.aspx

Microsoft gives Windows Live users 25GB of Skydrive space for free. This data is essentially accessible from a Windows Phone and any computer with a browser. This data can then easily be shared with other users with Live accounts. It looks like SkyDrive is going to be more functional from Windows Phone after the Mango update. Uploading, sharing, and accessing your SkyDrive content is going to continue to get easier.... Check out the link for specific additions.

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icrosoft is committed to offering cloud services that deliver access to your information across devices and platforms. Hotmail provides sync of mail, calendar and contacts across devices, and SkyDrive gives you access to up to 25GB of documents, photos, and videos from anywhere in the world through the web. And of course these services are available today for free across your Windows PC, phone, and web.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2011/06/07/don-t-wait-for-your-cloud-use-hotmail-and-skydrive-today-on-your-pc-mac-or-phone.aspx

Nothing all that great to announce here, but Microsoft is adding some Xbox functionality to Windows Phone. The Beards and Beaks game sounds pretty good though....

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Coming later this year in Mango is more native support of Xbox LIVE features in the Games Hub like:

· See your played games and unlocked/locked Achievements

· Compare Achievements with other Xbox LIVE members

· Search your list of friends to see who is online and what they are doing

· See your Xbox LIVE messages and Send/Accept/Reject friend requests

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2011/06/06/fresh-from-e3-xbox-live-enhancements-and-new-games-for-windows-phone.aspx