Windows Phone Thoughts: Windows Phone 7 Has Gone Gold

Microsoft has officially released Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing. This means that carriers have in their hands a final version that they can use to load onto devices. Unfortunately, we still have no information on exact release dates for Windows Phone 7. Current rumors suggest the release date will be some time in October, but nothing definitive has been discovered.

In addition to information that the OS had been released to manufacturing, Microsoft also revealed that there are multiple small improvements that made it into the released build. One of the more interesting features resolves a problem where Facebook contacts were automatically imported into the phone when a Facebook account is added. Now, Facebook contacts are matched to existing phone contacts and those that aren't found are not added. More Facebook functionality has also been added into final build, such as the ability to comment on contact's walls, and the ability to ‘like' someone's posts. I'm sure that there will be many other small features that are discovered when the phone is finally released.