MICROSOFT HAS issued a major update for its mobile phone software, seven months after its launch.

The update, known as Mango, brings more than 500 new features to using the phone, including handsfree messaging through speech-to-text features, integrated e-mail inboxes and opening up the application Marketplace to more countries.

“It builds upon our mission to make the smartphone smarter and easier,” Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s mobile business said.

Mango also aims to integrate more social networking features, such as integrated Twitter and LinkedIn feeds and automated Facebook check-ins.

“People are communicating not just phone to phone, but phone to PC and even to TV,” Mr Lees said. “The problem is that today smartphones only include the very basic communications. Everything else is an app, and you need different apps for different communications.”

Microsoft described the way Windows Phone Mango approaches communication as “people-centric” rather than centred on the apps they use. The update brings together all the ways to connect and share information with people into one place, and allows users to switch between text messages, Facebook chat and Windows instant messages.

Mango will also come with facial recognition software to enable users to tag photographs more easily.

Multitasking will allow users to run applications in the background.

As part of the update, which will ship on handsets this autumn, users will also get Internet Explorer 9. Existing customers will get the upgrade free.

Microsoft has struggled to gain market share in the face of stiff competition from rivals Apple and Google, which have dominated the market. In the first quarter of 2011, Microsoft’s market share fell to 3.6 per cent, compared with Android’s 32 per cent and Apple’s 27.4 per cent.

However, the recently signed deal with Nokia, and commitments from Acer, Fujistu-Toshiba and ZTE to ship new Mango handsets in the autumn are being viewed by analysts as a boost for the company.