Windows Phone Mango Part 2: Apps Video

Windows Phone Mango Part 2: Apps Video Transcript

Hey everyone! I'm Jessica Dolcourt with CNET. What I've got for you today is a look at some of the new app features coming your way in Windows Phone Mango which will otherwise be known as Windows Phone 7.5. Microsoft has spend a lot of time and energy working on apps with this release, so they may or may not have the most programs in their app store but I do give Microsoft credit for trying to integrate those apps in useful ways. For example, when you search for a movie or a product or a business and being, you're now gonna see suggestions for relevant apps that you can download and then also a list of apps that you already have and the same is gonna go for apps in the music and pictures hubs, as well. You might not see every app in this list that you think you should. That's because the app publisher has to enable apps to connect with the feature in order for that to happen. Another app that has some really neat tools is Bing. There's Local Scout which is sort of like Yelp for restaurants and businesses nearby and there's music ID which is a lot a like Shazam. Music ID essentially matches the sound of recorded music that adheres to the Zune music database and it will of course help you buy those songs as well. Then, there's Bing Vision and this is probably one of the updates of most ambitious apps. It scans, barcodes, and also book in magazine covers, posters, and DVD covers to identify search results online. It can also attempt to scan and translate text into numerous languages that was a little less successful for me. Now, I did have some problems with Bing Vision, not recognizing all the images that I sent its way. So, hopefully Microsoft will be able to improve upon the tool before that the final version is released. Okay, now the last new feature that I want to show you is multitasking. To easily switch from one open app to another, you just press and hold the back arrow under the screen. You'll see the apps shrink into thumbnail sizes and then you can swipe around and see and then select the open pages. That's it for now but that's definitely not all that we have. [unk] has a load on communication's additions including some really neat ones with Twitter and email, so check out her video. Just remember though that this is a technical preview, so Microsoft has more time to refine some of its features before the update officially comes out this fall. Once again, I'm Jessica Dolcourt with CNET. This is Windows Phone Mango and don't forget to check out our hands-on review of the Mango preview on CNET.com.