On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a number of details and the first official look at the next release of Windows Phone 7, codename “mango.”

Back when we reviewed Windows Phone 7, we were impressed by the platform’s overall smoothness, appearance, and unique mobile paradigm, but highlighted a number of chief areas that needed improvement for it to be competitive with much more mature smartphone rivals. Chief among them was a browser that needed serious updating even at launch. We've been playing with the new IE 9-based browser for the past two days and have come away decently impressed. Read on for more.

When Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 late last year, it was readily evident that they had a solid platform on their hands, but it was missing some critical details. Chief among them? Copy-and-paste, bringing back a frequent grievance from the early iPhone days. The platform’s first update, codenamed “NoDo” (there’s a story behind that), is now out, with copy-paste support in tow, along with much improved application loading and some general performance tune-ups in the UI. 

At the same time, we decided to take a look at HTC’s HD7, since it’s been my day-to-day phone for a couple of months now. It’s still the only Windows Phone you’ll find in a T-Mobile store, so it’s worth taking a look at, especially now that a very similar variant is due to hit AT&T in the coming weeks. 

Read on for our thoughts on both the HD7 and Microsoft’s new update to the Windows Phone platform. 

The only aspect of purchasing a Windows Phone that's more difficult than jumping on the iPhone bandwagon is choosing hardware. While the OS may be polished, nearly all Windows Phone manufacturers took the safe route and launched relatively uninspired designs for WP7. I'm sorry to say that none of them quite live up to the total package of the iPhone 4. You make sacrifices in battery life, material quality, camera quality or all of the above. The OS may be solid, but there's still a lot of work that has to be done to achieve perfection.

If you are planning on making the jump before the next generation of Windows Phone 7 hardware, there are reasonable options today. While the perfect Windows Phone may not yet exist, there are some devices that are good enough.

Unlike choosing an Android phone, performance and UI aren't differentiating factors for Windows Phones. They all run the same OS and use the same 1st generation Snapdragon SoC. As a result, they all perform identically. There are no OS level carrier/OEM customizations. The best either can do is supply preinstalled apps. Other than that, the difference is all in build quality, battery life and the hardware in general.

Brian posted our review of one of the more unusual Windows Phone 7 devices a couple of weeks ago: the HTC Surround. Today I want to provide a quick look at two other options: the very popular Samsung Focus and the LG Optimus 7.

Even though the WP7 official unveiling is quite a ways behind us, we’ve been spending quite a lot of time with the respective Windows Phone 7 launch devices. Anand has the LG Optimus 7 and the Samsung Focus, and I got the HTC Surround. There are a number of other devices bound for other carriers both international and domestic, and we’re getting to them in time. 

If you haven’t already, definitely read our Windows Phone 7 launch piece which covers the platform as it exists purely from the software perspective. We promised then that we’d be taking an in-depth look at each of the devices with the usual rigor, and are starting out with the HTC Surround.

It took Microsoft a long time, but it’s finally here - Windows Phone 7 (now sans the ‘Series’). It’s the software giant’s spiritual successor to Windows Mobile, its answer to iOS and Android, and Redmond’s chance to once again vie for a piece of the smartphone market. 

We’ve been following Windows Phone 7 closely since its inception, fleshing out at MIX 10, and carry through to its official debut earlier this month. Now it’s finally time to really see what Windows Phone 7 has in store, and what Microsoft’s vision for the future of handheld computing really looks like. The competition is fierce and getting fiercer, and Microsoft already had one false start with its ill-fated KIN series of devices. We’ve been playing with three Windows Phone 7 devices - the HTC Surround, Samsung Focus, and LG Quantum 7, and thus far WP7 looks like it’s headed for success.

For those of you who haven't read today's Moorestown Architecture article I'd highly recommend it. This is quite possibly one of the biggest introductions we've seen in the past couple of years. I'd say that by the end of 2011 we could be looking at a dramatically different smartphone landscape.

One gem I snuck into the article was the fact that Intel has no current plans to support Windows Phone 7 or even Windows Phone 8 after it. The allegation is that Microsoft's roadmap isn't aggressive enough on the performance side. Intel needs OSes that can demand much higher performance in order to showcase Moorestown. If a 1.5GHz Moorestown performs no different than a 1GHz Snapdragon, Intel loses one of its major advantages.

This is potentially very telling about the sort of market Microsoft is going after with Windows Phone 7. If it's not the high end smartphone user, then perhaps MS is implementing more of a sweet spot strategy and targeting the informed mainstream consumer? There's also the flipside. Perhaps this is all political and there are other reasons at play for not supporting Windows Phone 7.

Based on what I've seen thus far, not having Moorestown support appears to be a bad thing.

Microsoft has been behaving rather strange these past few years.  After spending much of 2006 in denial about the threat the iPhone posed, we're finally seeing the beginnings of a competitive Microsoft again. At this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft announced its brand new smartphone platform: Windows Phone 7 Series.  

With a launch several months away, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series smartphone OS begins with a clean slate. Finally learning from Apple's success, does Microsoft have what it takes to compete in the next generation of smartphones?