MIX '11: More Info On New Mango Features

WPCentral and WMPoweruser have been absolutely killing it with their live coverage of MIX '11, and I would be a fool not to use them as a valuable resource. While at the show, both outlets spied plenty of new features in sessions that weren't mentioned in-depth during the keynote presentation on Tuesday. Here's a quick rundown of the ones they spotted yesteday:

• In Mango, the live tile system is getting a pretty huge expansion of features that more closely matches what Microsoft has been able to do with their own native apps. For example, now the user is free to add multiple live tiles per app (the demo showed a MSNBC app split up into 3 different tiles for Local, World, Political News) and since this feature may fill up users' Start pages quickly, the total limit of tiles has been bumped up from 15 now to 30 with Mango. Another feature mimicking the functionality of native apps is "deep" toast notifications--now apps can send a toast notification that will jump directly into the content it is telling you about, just like how notifications from Messaging takes you directly to the newest text in a conversation. Live Tiles are also getting a nice aesthetic feature called Flip in which a tile will literally flip over and show you text or an image and flip back to its original state. Besides those new features, tiles are said to be much more efficient overall. [Via WPCentral]
• Speaking of apps pushing stuff in the background, those processes are completely controllable by the end user in Mango A new option in Settings called Background Tasks will present a simple list of the apps programmed to run in the background and you simply tap on it to change its permissions. [Via WPCentral]
• Of course when it comes to background tasks and pushing data, one has to wonder just how taxing those will be on your precious battery life and performance. Luckily Microsoft was prepared for those questions and has decided to limit those features' 'budgets' to just 10% of the CPU process and only 5MB of the phone's memory. Mango will also automatically schedule these processes so that battery life can be managed more efficiently and you're not assaulted by 40 notifications within 5 minutes. [Via WMPoweruser]
• Another cool feature in Mango related to multitasking is the ability for apps to download in the background. So for example, if you have an app like Bring Cast which downloads podcasts you no longer have to leave the app open and can instead let it download in the background while you do something else. I believe you can already do this with Marketplace downloads so its great that Microsoft is now extending that feature to developers. [Via WPCentral]
• One big story in recent weeks has been what approach is Microsoft going to take in order to control adult content in the Marketplace--will they kick apps out like Apple or will they turn a blind eye like Google? Clearly Microsoft was already thinking about it as they introduced a new rating system for apps. Basically apps will be assigned ratings based on their content, but as of right now the process hasn't been thoroughly detailed for apps. On the other hand, games will be required to go through the gaming industry's external ratings systems like the ESRB (the U.S. video game ratings system), PEGI, and others. That move is a bit questionable as it could potentially delay games since they are relying on an external source with their own agenda, but at least they've come up with a solution instead of being forced to pull apps. [Via WPCentral, WMPoweruser]
• Developers now have new publishing options for the Marketplace and they are surprisingly more fully featured than any other app stores to date. We're already familiar with public distribution, which is what all apps submitted to the Marketplace today go through. In Mango, Microsoft is adding two new methods of distribution: Beta and Private. Beta is just what you think; developers can publish apps to the Marketplace but they will only be accessible to a select number of people (limit is tentatively at 100), they will not be required to go through certification, and they will not be available to find through public search. Private is a little different, as it is similar in execution to Beta publishing but seems intended for enterprise. Privately published apps can be used by an unlimited number of users, will require certification, and will not be publicly searchable. The ideal use scenario for Private is for company-specific apps that can be easily deployed to employees without any manual execution. [Via WPCentral]
• If coded with the Mango tools, apps will now support access to the user's contacts and calendars, but there are a few rules developers will have to play by. The interaction with contacts and calendars seems to be a 'read-only' affair when it comes to non-Microsoft sources like Facebook, which is limited to only name and picture, and Twitter, which is completely barred. While its a bummer that we won't get such powerful features, Microsoft seems to be taking the 'better-safe-than-sorry' approach to avoid any potential security disasters. [Via WMPoweruser]
• Finally, Mango will include new APIs for custom camera apps, which will be huge for photo apps like Apict. However, there are a few limitations to the feature: apps cannot substitute the native camera app when pressing the shutter button (external apps have to be launched first) and the apps won't have access to OEM driver customizations. But one cool if basic new feature is the ability to create an on-screen 'soft' shutter button, similar to the way iPhones take pictures. [Via WPCentral]