Breaking: New Mango Features Coming For Windows Phone 7

According to Travis and Ryan Lowdermilk, from the Windows Phone Dev Podcast, some amazing new Bing services are on the way for Windows Phone 7.  Also rumored are turn-by-turn voice directions for Maps, and voice-recognition SMS messaging.  Podcast support within the OS has already been confirmed, and now we see some screenshots indicating as much.

Bing Audio

This is a Shazam-type service integrated directly into the Bing search window.  Just like Shazam, you press the Bing Audio button on the bottom toolbar, and record a snippet of the song you are listening to.  If a match is found, it will come in the form of a Marketplace result, while still remaining inside the Bing window.  Clicking that link will bring you into the Marketplace where you can stream the song, download it, or purchase it.

US, Great Britian, France, Italy, Germany and Spain are the initial countries that Bing Audio supports.

Bing Vision

This is a search service using the camera.  There are already separate apps like this available, but this is baked right into WP7, allowing you to scan barcodes, Microsoft Tags, QR Codes, books, DVD’s, CD’s, and even text using OCR.

Support for “Vision Recognizers” is available, suggesting that additional services can be added, letting you take a picture of a structure and get Bing results from it, or possibly layer search results on top of the camera view.  It could support augmented reality apps as well.

Native Podcast Support with Download Support –

If these images are in fact real, this is the new Podcast feature, allowing WP7 users to subscribe to podcasts, download them, and stream them – all from the phone.  There seems to be the ability to adjust your podcast series settings within the phone.  There is even a screenshot of a video podcast playing, while it’s still downloading! (see end of article)

Native Turn-By-Turn Directions

Also rumored is the integration of turn-by-turn directions, which has been a big hole missing from the current version of WP7.  All we have is the settings page screenshot, but it looks legit.

Voice-Recognition SMS Messaging

Allowing you to text while driving (sarcasm) and saving you from the dreaded “Blackberry Thumbs”, comes native voice texting.  LG’s WP7 lineup had an app that attempted this, but this will be natively supported.

The screenshots are convincing, but nothing has been officially announced.  Thanks to the Lowdermilk brothers for their great podcast, Windows Phone Dev Podcast.  Pretty soon you’ll be able to subscribe to their podcast straight from your phone!  Mango sure will be exciting.

Bonus screenshot –