| The new messaging hub is really well done. It combines SMS/MMS messaging with Facebook Chat and Windows Live Messenger. Not only that, but all messaging types are supported by the Messages live tile, lock screen indicator, and the speech interface. I was very pleasantly surprised when my brother sent me a Facebook chat message, the notification appeared at the top of my phone and then a voice asked me if I wanted to read it aloud. After reading the message, the voice asked if I wanted to respond or ignore. So I said respond and then told it what I wanted to say. The phone's voice recognition converted my speech into a Facebook instant message and sent it back to him. I didn't even have to touch the device! Of course, that works with incoming Windows Live Messenger IM's as well as text messages. Awesome! When it comes to email, Mango brings some nice innovations too. First off, you can now link email accounts so that they're all available in one live tile and program listing. A lot of people were complaining that Windows Phone didn't originally have a unified inbox, and this is Microsoft's answer to that. Linking inboxes actually gives you a lot more control. When you open one email account inbox, the pop-up menu at the bottom has a command called "link inboxes." Tap that and you can choose which other inboxes or inbox groups you'd like to link to. After you link multiple accounts they'll only show up as one item (which you can name whatever you want) in the programs ... |
