The first round of Windows Phone 7 updates is almost here, the second is looking massive

We have been tracking Windows Phone 7 updates since the phone platform was announced, and it seems now that at long last the first real update for Microsoft’s new phone platform is just over the horizon.

Writer and developer Paul Thurrott has unleashed a whole wave of leaks surrounding the future of the Windows Phone 7 OS, and they are both on par, and in some ways contrary with what we had previously learned.

As we have said many times: cut and paste is just around the corner, and the update that contains it, called “NoDo,” should be finished this month. Expect carriers to push it to users February once it gets their nod. Testing aside, this bit of WP7 code is pretty much a done deal.

What comes next is the interesting part. We have long been expecting a second update to come after the first minor release, but what Mr. Thurrott has to say is even more than we had previously expected. To quote him, this is what the ‘Mango’ update should bring:

While I’m not sure on the timing, the first major Windows Phone 7 update contains a piece called “Mango” internally; this will add Internet Explorer 9 with with the Trident 5 rendering engine, HTML 5 and Silverlight, and gesture support. This is the “75xx” code branch, which suggests that it could be called Windows Phone 7.5. (But probably won’t be … It actually calls itself Windows Phone 7.2 at this time.). Internally, this code branch is referred to as the “entertainment” branch, which suggests other, non-IE functionality as well.

What is interesting is that ‘Mango’ is only a part of what should be coming, opening the door for even more goodies to be dispersed by Redmond, something that will surely whet the imagination of every WP7 fan.

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For now we are stuck (again) waiting for Ballmer to get on stage tomorrow and tell the world just what Microsoft has been up to. Cross your fingers.