paste support coming to Windows Phone 7
Two of the biggest complaints about Microsoft's mobile OS rebootno multitasking for thirdparty apps, and no cutting and pastingwill be fixed before the year is out, with the initial cutandpaste update slated to arrive next month.
Speaking at Microsoft's Mobile World Congress keynote in Barcelona on Monday, Steve Ballmer promised that the first of two patches for Windows Phone 7the one that adds cut and paste functionality, as well as tweaks supporting handsets on CDMA networks, such as those run by Sprint and Verizon Wirelesswill be coming in early March.
Meanwhile, a second, patch is due in the second half of this yearno word on exactly whenand will add a slew of new features, including multitasking for thirdparty apps, cloudbased storage for Office documents, Twitter integration into Windows Phone 7's hub (which, for now, only taps into Facebook), and a revamped mobile browser based on Internet Explorer 9.
Interestingly enough, Ballmer didn't unveil any new Windows Phone 7 handsets during Monday's keynote, although Microsoft did promise that handsets for Sprint and Verizon will be soon. How soon? Good question.
Current Windows Phone 7 handsets already support multitasking for native Windows Phone apps (like the Zune music player), but the upcoming patch will finally enable multitasking and fastapp switching for thirdparty applications. Pressing and holding the button will call up a series of tiles showing recently used apps; just tap one to switch, All Things Digital's Ina Fried reports.
The Windows Phone 7 browser will also be getting a muchneeded shot in the arm, with the new version to be based on Microsoft's stillinbeta IE 9 desktop browser. That means HTML5 support is at last on the way, along with hardwareaccelerated graphics.
Not included in the second Windows Phone update, however: Flash support, with a Microsoft exec telling All Things Digital that the lack of Flash is due to [life] and other reasons, rather than a sign that Microsoft is to Flash. larger of the two Windows Phone 7 updates will also let mobile Office users store and share documents in the cloud, via Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive service.
Microsoft also showed off how Windows Phone users might eventually be able to play along with Xbox 360 gamesfor example, imagine a game of Kinect dodgeball where a Windows Phone user controlled the ball's trajectory by tapping and swiping on the touchscreen. Interesting, but Microsoft execs stressed that the demo was only thata demo, with no guarantees that the feature would actually ship.
The news comes just days after Nokia announced that it will phase out its Symbian OS in favor of Windows Phone 7, which will become its smartphone platform.
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