Five things we love about Windows Phone Mango

With more than 500 new and enhanced features coming to Windows Phone this fall in Microsoft's version 7.5, or "Mango," update, you'd think we'd be hard-pressed to discern the cream of the crop. Not so!

After spending almost a week with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango , we found that five major features stood out above the rest. These features are time-saving tools, clever ideas, or enhancements borrowed from elsewhere, but they all share the properties of making the Windows Phone OS a much better functioning place to be.

Of course, it's not all lovey-dovey. CNET's Bonnie Cha has a list of Top 5 things Windows Phone needs to improve .

But for now, some praise:

1. App integration
Microsoft has taken the initiative here with a small addition to its platform that makes a profound difference. Instead of leaving apps in the Marketpalce and on the launch screens, the Windows Phone team has also made it possible to see relevant photo and music apps in the Photos and Music + Videos hubs.

That's not all. If third-party publishers tap into the App Connect API (as it's called), you'll be able to see apps related to movies, consumer goods, and local businesses when you search in Bing. A discovery aspect will also suggest apps you don't have, after you search.

Why do we love it? It's a novel idea that delivers apps to more places where you want them.

2. Multitasking
Sure, almost every rival already had a way to easily switch among apps. Microsoft earns no originality points here, but the feature is a sorely needed solution to a pesky problem.

3. Bing Vision
The folks at Microsoft put on their thinking caps for this one, integrating the concept of popular barcode-scanning software into their search app by default and then taking it a couple steps further. First, Bing Vision attempts to identify products and media based on barcode, Microsoft Tag, QR code, and cover (if it's media like a book, magazine, CD, or DVD). Second, once you press Bing's "eye" icon, you don't have to press anything else to get the app to focus and snap. Third, it will try to scan and translate text as well.

The software doesn't completely succeed at all it sets out to do, fairly often returning incorrect or partial information, but Mango isn't finished yet and so the app could improve in accuracy before launch. Kudos to Microsoft for expanding Bing's features with a useful search tool.

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