Microsoft will roll out Windows Phone 7.5 Mango in two weeks

SMARTPHONE DEVELOPER Microsoft has announced that its Windows Phone 7.5 update, codenamed Mango, will be released within two weeks.

Microsoft's Windows Phone Mango update, which has been oscillating between being numbered as version 7.1 and 7.5, is due to "start [rolling out] in the next week or two", according to Eric Hautala, GM of Microsoft Customer Experience Engineering. That means it'll arrive around the same time as Apple is expected to launch its next Iphone.

Hautala urged Windows Phone 7 users not to update their devices with unofficial builds of Windows Phone 7.5, saying that when the update does arrive, handset manufacturers will send over "faired firmware" with it, which apparently has been "painstakingly tuned so your phone, and apps, work". You've got to give it to Hautala, he makes code debugging sound far better than it really is.

Hautala said that once Microsoft start rolling out Windows Phone 7.5 it will update its Where's my Phone Update? page to show the status of the rollout.

Microsoft is banking on Windows Phone 7.5 to jumpstart Windows Phone adoption. The noises coming from those who have beta tested Windows Phone 7.5 have been generally positive, though given that Windows Phone 7 was hardly an impressive operating system to start with, that might not be saying much.

Microsoft has the opportunity to score a small victory over Google's Android if it manages to roll out the major update to all Windows Phone 7 devices in a matter of weeks. But it might not matter if Apple steals all the attention with its fifth Iphone. µ