Skip to main content

Windows Phone 7 Mango to include turn-by-turn Nav, Bing Vision & Audio

windows-phone-7-mango-maps-bing-audio-bing-vision-sms-dictation
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Free, built-in turn-by-turn navigation is one of the features that gives Android a leg up on Apple and most other smartphone competitors. However, the Windows Phone Mango update could level the playing field for Microsoft’s fledgling OS. WPCentral‘s Paul Thurrott reports that Microsoft unveiled four new consumer features coming to WP7 on the Windows Phone Dev Podcast. We’ve got the list below.

  • Turn-by-turn navigation: We heard rumblings of this in early April at Mix 2011, but it’s good to have it confirmed. We’re guessing that this feature makes use of Nokia’s expertise in navigation. The Finnish phone maker already includes Ovi Maps and navigation with its Symbian phones. When Nokia and Microsoft announced their partnership, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop stated several times that Maps/Navigation were features that Nokia intended to share.
  • Bing Vision: This app sounds similar to Google Goggles. It will have a barcode and QR code scanner, can pick up Microsoft Tags, and can detect CDs, DVDs, Books, and text using OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
  • Bing Audio: This is an app like SoundHound or Shazam. If you hold your phone up to a song, it will detect which song is playing and provide you links to download it in the Windows Marketplace for music. Initially, it will only launch in the U.S. and some major European countries like the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany.
  • SMS dictation: A voice-to-text service for SMS messages. It will be very cool, if it works.

Is turn-by-turn navigation a big deal to you? It was a deciding factor for some of the Android users on our staff. To learn about more features coming to Windows Phone 7, check out our recap from Mix 2011.

Jeffrey Van Camp
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
Will my Apple Watch get watchOS 26? Here’s every supported model
We've got the full list of watchOS 26 supported devices - find out if you're getting the new Apple Watch update
watchOS 26 on a trio of Apple Watches

Apple announced watchOS 26 at WWDC 2025, and the new Watch update comes with a fresh new look and plenty of features. Apple has ensured there are plenty of watchOS 26 supported devices, so if you have a relatively new Watch you should get the update this year.

And no, you haven't missed a volley of updates since watchOS 11 in 2024. Apple has skipped a bunch of numbers, so instead of giving us watchOS 12 in 2025, we got watchOS 26 alongside iOS 26, macOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

Read more
8 key things you need to know from Apple’s WWDC 2025 event
From a fresh look and updated names, to new features, more intelligence and live translation
iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 shown on devices.

The WWDC 2025 keynote ran for just over an hour and a half. For those of you who don't fancy sitting through the whole presentation, we've pulled out the key things you need to know from the latest Apple event.

1. Welcome to the 26 club

Read more
WWDC 2025: Apple announces iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and more
Major updates to iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS
WWDC 2025 logo

Apple kicked off WWDC 2025 with its keynote presentation at its annual World Wide Developer's conference, and it was a bumper affair.

We were treated to a raft of updates across all of the firm's software platforms, as we were introduced to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

Read more