Microsoft: Mango update coming to all Windows Phones within two weeks

Windows Phone 7 users won’t have to wait much longer for the platform’s major Mango update, as Microsoft announced today it will start rolling it out “in the next week or two.”

Mango, also known as the Windows Phone 7.5 update, will contain more than 500 new features, most of which will serve to make Windows Phone even more competitive against Android and the iPhone.

Microsoft’s Eric Hautala, general manager of Windows Phone’s Customer Experience Engineering, said that the company has been working together with its partner companies for months to ready the update. Windows Phone owners will also receive firmware updates from their handset manufacturers to get their phones ready for Mango.

“This matched and paired firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone — and apps — work with all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5,” Hautala writes. “Since your phone requires the proper firmware to function as designed, my advice is simple: steer clear of bootleg updates and homebrew tools.”

Windows Phone owners have been eager to get their hands on the Mango update, so there’s certainly a danger that some intrepid owners will try to install incompatible software. A Windows Phone update from earlier this year caused some major trouble for Microsoft, so the company is likely working extra hard to make sure the Mango update runs smoothly.

Microsoft has also released updates to its Windows Phone 7 Connector for Macs and its Zune software on Windows, which are required to perform the Mango update.