Microsoft is now expanding the distribution of its Windows Phone 7.5 update to all eligible users, but some owners of phones including Samsung's Omnia 7 will have to wait a bit longer.
The upgrade process has been running smoothly, with a few exceptions, some of which are now being sorted out, Microsoft said. It has now begun delivering the Windows Phone 7.5 update to LG Optimus 7 phones on Telefonica in Spain, and is also now scheduling it for Samsung Omnia 7 phones on Deutsche Telekom, Eric Hautala , general manager for customer experience engineering at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
At the beginning of October, the German operator said that Samsung was still working on some problems with the Mango update on the Omnia 7, and hinted that it would be ready by the end of the month. The distribution is now expected to start at the beginning of November, a spokeswoman said via email, so it looks like the wait for German, Dutch and U.K. T-Mobile subscribers that own the Samsung device will soon be over.
However, owners of the Omnia 7 in Spain are less lucky. The upgrade is still being tested, which is the first step in the upgrade process. Telefonica, the operator that sells the phone, did not reply to questions about when the upgrade will finally be ready.
The other remaining holdouts are Samsung Focus version 1.4 and the Dell Venue Pro on AT&T in the U.S.
Just because Microsoft has started distributing Mango to all eligible users doesn't mean everyone will get an upgrade at once. It might still take several weeks before a user receives notice that an update is available for their phone, Microsoft wrote on its "Where's my phone update?" website.
Microsoft is also sending out firmware updates to some phones around the world, according to Hautala.
He didn't elaborate on the details, but added that firmware updates "are designed to do things like improve your phone's performance, fix bugs, or even activate new features."
The last few days have been important for Microsoft and the future fortunes of its smartphone operating system.
On Wednesday, Nokia announced the Lumia 800 and 710, its first two phones based on Windows Phone.
In February, Nokia chose Windows Phone over MeeGo and Symbian. The latter two OSes are not completely dead yet: Owners of the Symbian-based N8 this week started receiving a service pack that is supposed to improve camera and messaging performance. Nokia has also announced the next version of Symbian, called Belle.