When will you finally get your Windows Phone 7 update?

Microsoft posted a new status-check page for the first two Windows Phone 7 updates at the end of the day on March 23.

The page provides update information for the first minor Windows Phone 7 update (the one that bricked some handsets and was temporarily halted), as well as for the first major Windows Phone 7 update, codenamed NoDo. The page lists the various handsets in various geographic locations and specifies where the pending "Februrary" and "March" updates are in the pipeline.

Here's what the WP7 update-status page for the U.S. looks like:

(click on the table to enlarge)

"Testing" means the software update is undergoing mobile operator network and quality tests. "Scheduling" means operator testing is complete, and Microsoft is scheduling the update for delivery. "This phase typically lasts 10 days or less," according to Microsoft. "Delivering update" means Microsoft has started to send out the update," according to the page. New phones, like the Sprint HTC Arrive, already come with the updates preloaded.

Microsoft began rolling out the NoDo update -- which provides copy-and-paste and various search and performance improvements -- to customers in Europe with unlocked phones at the start of this week. Some WP7 users who were prompted to download the update tweeted about its availability, which Microsoft officials confirmed later.

The comments on the March 23 blog post announcing the availability of the status-check page are, for the most part, pretty angry and brutal. As a number of users point out, there's still no information on how long "testing" may take. And if "scheduling" can last up to 10 days, many WP7 users won't get their updates until some time in April, or later.

A lot of the good early press that Windows Phone 7 got last fall has been largely undone by subsequent problems and lack of communication from the company about the update timetable and process. The new phone update page is a step in the right direction. Here's hoping Microsoft has finally ironed out the kinks in its  Windows Phone update process.