Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that its first major Windows Phone update — dubbed NoDo — is being pushed to users’ handsets. Sixteen Windows Phone devices from over a dozen countries have, or will have, the update — which finally brings copy & paste functionality — in the coming days. Users in the United States, however, still have a bit of waiting to do. According to a new status page setup by the company, T-Mobile’s pair of Windows Phones — the Dell Venue Pro and HTC HD7 — are currently in the “scheduling” phase. This procedure typically takes “10 days or less,” according to Microsoft, at which point the update will begin rolling out to handsets. AT&T’s trio of Windows Phones — the Samsung Focus, the LG Quantum, and HTC Surround — are currently in the “testing” stage. Microsoft explains that phones with this distinction are “undergoing mobile operator network and quality tests,” but does not provide an estimated time of completion for this step. Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, at one point championed the fact that updates to the Windows Phone operating system would be delivered by his company, not wireless carriers. While Microsoft may be the one delivering the bits, it looks like U.S. mobile operators are still finding ways to slow things down. The waiting continues…

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We just whizzed by HTC’s booth at CTIA in Orlando to check out the HD7S, AT&T’s latest Windows Phone 7 monster. The HD7S rocks a large, beautiful 4.3-inch display that looked amazing, even under the blinding lights of the show floor. If you’ve handled a 4.3-inch HTC handset before, you know exactly what to expect from the HD7S. We couldn’t fully experience the device — from a feel-in-the-hand perspective — as it was bolted down to its charger with bulky, security hardware . If we had to pick up a Windows Phone 7 device on AT&T, it’d no doubt be the HD7S. Its large display easily fit most of the content on our homepage, and it was a breeze to read text even when fully zoomed out. The keyboard was large and lends itself to ripping off massive quantities of text messages and emails. We even tried the copy/paste feature, which is enabled on the HTC HD7S thanks to the NoDo update. It worked well, although we think Microsoft could have made the interface just a bit more intuitive — but that’s not the HD7S’ fault. Just like the EVO 4G and the T-Mobile HD7, the HD7S sports a metal kickstand, which means you can prop the device up on your desk for watching movies in landscape mode. As with most Windows Phone 7 devices we’ve used, the interface was snappy, and that’s likely due to the 1GHz processor under the hood. We’re definitely looking forward to spending more time with the HD7S when we get a review unit. In the meantime, hit gallery to have a look for yourself.

In a statement to Mobilized, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed what most had been expecting — another delay to the company’s planned, March Windows Phone update. Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, had previously stated that NoDo would begin hitting handsets in early March. “After careful consultation with the team and our many partners, we’ve decided to briefly hold the March update in order to ensure the update process meets our standards and that of our customers,” explained a company spokesperson. “As a result, we will plan to begin delivering the update in the latter half of March.” The first major update to Microsoft’s new mobile operating system — codenamed NoDo — is set to bring copy and paste functionality along with a host of other tweaks and improvements. The company’s spokesperson went on to confirm that this delay would have no impact on future update releases — specifically mentioning the multitasking update due later this year announced at Mobile World Congress.

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Microsoft on Thursday published a new knowledge base article to its support site that suggests the first update to the Windows Phone 7 operating system may soon be released. The article details troubleshooting information in the event a software update does not install properly. The highly anticipated first software update for Windows Phone 7 is expected to introduce various new features including the ability to cut, copy and paste text. The update may also fix a bug recently identified by Microsoft that causes large amounts of superfluous data to be transmitted randomly over 3G. Earlier rumors suggested that Microsoft would release the update in January and with just over three days left in the month, this new knowledge base article rekindles hopes that we might see an update before February arrives on Tuesday.

[Via pocketnow.com, e's phoneblog]

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Reports of a Windows Phone 7 OS update trickling out to developer phones first surfaced over the weekend. As part of that update, it looks like a very highly anticipated feature has finally made its way to Windows Phones — copy/paste. Microsoft admitted months before Windows Phone 7 launched that it would have to omit copy/paste functionality from the release version of its new mobile OS, but it also said an early update would add the feature. Thankfully, it looks like Microsoft will be true to its word and its first OS update with copy/paste in tow appears to be imminent. Unfortunately, however, it also looks like rumors from last month suggesting Microsoft’s first Windows Phone 7 update would be “massive” are false, as this first update is reportedly rather minor aside from the addition of copy/paste. Hit the break to see a video of copy/paste in action on a Windows Phone 7-powered developer phone.

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Lending a tremendous amount of credibility to rumors that Windows Phone 7 would receive copy and paste functionality in January, a Microsoft executive has commented on the impending arrival of feature. In a blog post, Microsoft’s Director of Microsoft Project Arpan Shah said the following while addressing critics of Windows Phone 7:

Critics have commented on the lack of specific features like copy & paste and lack of 100s of thousands of applications. And while both are true, copy & paste will be available as an update in a matter of weeks (early 2011) and as for applications, it’s just a matter of time.

We’re still eight weeks away from the end of 2010, so we doubt Shah would have used the phrase “a matter of weeks” if the time line stretched beyond the end of January.

[Via Windows Phone Central]

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The Windows Phone 7 platform has caused quite a stir this week as the nitty gritty details under the pretty exterior are being exposed for the world to see. One of the details causing the greatest amount of consternation is the reported lack of copy & paste, a feature that was an integral part of Windows Mobile and one that was touted as a benefit Windows Mobile had over the first two generations of the iPhone. According to well-known Windows blogger Long Zheng, copy & paste will be an integral part of  Windows Phone 7 Series, just not at launch. Rather than delay the launch of Microsoft’s latest mobile platform, a decision was apparently made to pull the feature and roll it out soon after launch. The development team has reportedly worked out all the details on “how” Microsoft will implement the copy &  paste feature but they just needed additional time to integrate the mechanism into the the codebase. Windows fans can possibly now stop fretting about copy & paste and turn their attention towards the ensuing difficult buying decision they face — do they jump on board with the first handsets at launch or do they delay gratification until a feature complete OS is out in the wild?

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One of our ninjas just sent us in shots of the iPhone running OS 3.0, so we figured we’d put them together in  gallery for everyone. There aren’t any earth-shattering features in here, but still, it’s always good to have a gander at what’s to come. Hit the gallery link for the shots!

Thanks, Robby!

P.S. For all your workaholics, we’ve been told there is Exchange 2007 remote search built into the mail application now.

Click on over to our iPhone 3.0 screenshot walkthrough gallery!