Windows Phone Tango, which some folks are now calling Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh, is not only going to enable device makers like Nokia to come out with sub 200 EUR smartphones, it’s also going to bring new features to today’s Windows Phone when it eventually arrives as a software update. Some features we already know, things like the ability to send more than one image via MMS, better SIM contact management, and a ridiculous amount of new languages. The folks at XDA Developers have just discovered, by way of hacking a Tango ROM on to the HTC HD2, that Tango also has drastically improved memory management. Whereas before you could switch between five Windows Phone applications, with Tango that number climbs up to eight. The amount of RAM available after a reboot has also gone up, but it’s a bit too early to tell exactly how much since the final Tango software isn’t being used.
As awesome as all of this sounds, we’re still not sold on Windows Phone. The “multitasking” in this OS is just like the multitasking in iOS, meaning that applications aren’t really running in the background, they’re just accessing a small number of APIs that are allowed to run at all times. Then there’s the timing issue. We know Windows Phone 8 smartphones are going to be on store shelves by the end of the year. They’ll be equipped with dual core processors, high resolution screens, NFC, and everything and anything that you’d want. We also have been hearing that today’s Windows Phone are not even going to be upgraded to Windows Phone 8, so … Tango is great, fantastic, but it’s got a shelf life of about two quarters. If that.
Still, Microsoft being Microsoft, and Nokia being Nokia, they’ll support their children for at least another few years. And that’s always a nice thing.