Windows Phone 7 'NoDo' starts to flow for T-Mobile and Orange users

Microsoft has begun to notify users of HTC HD7 and Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 handsets that the first two WP7 updates are now available for download.

On March 29, some WP7 users began tweeting that they received WP7 update notifications from Microsoft on their phones, letting them know the first two updates were ready. The first update -- an update to Microsoft's update mechanism -- downloads first (if users don't have it on their phones already). The second update, codenamed "NoDo," subsequently follows, according to the users.

According to WinRumors, Orange customers also are seeing the updates pushed to them today. Some, according to MobileTechWorld.com's Makram Daou, are saying Vodafone/SFR users are getting the updates, as well.

NoDo is the update which provides copy-and-paste functionality for Windows Phone 7. It also provides overall phone performance improvements and Marketplace search enhancements, users say. Recently announced WP7 devices, like the HTC Arrive on Sprint, already have the first updates preinstalled.

Microsoft has come under considerable fire for not providing the first WP7 updates in a timely manner and failing to communicate openly with users about the update process and timetables.

WP7 users can get some information about the timing of the updates for their particular handsets/carriers by checking Microsoft's recently posted WP7 update status page. However, that page only provides general guidance and not specific dates, a complaint many users have registered loudly and repeatedly.

Microsoft officials said over the weekend that the holdup in the updates has been largely due to carrier testing. Microsoft is the one creating most of the updates for the handful of WP7 handsets on the market, and also the one pushing the updates to users.Microsoft officials said the company was intentionally throttling the delivery of NoDo so as to make sure the update wouldn't be problematic, like the first one was for a number of Samsung users.

A number of enthusiasts began hacking their WP7 phones this week to enable the NoDo update on them, rather than waiting for Microsoft to push the updates to them.

There are still a lot of different WP7 phone/carrier combinations that don't have a delivery target for the first updates. But it's good to see the promised updates are actually starting to fill the delivery pipeline.....

Update: T-Mobile has posted a Knowledge Base article advising users how to apply both the February and NoDo updates. (Thanks to reader @steveymacjr for the pointer.) There's also a list of what's in NoDo available from T-Mobile, too.

Update No. 2: Some T-Mobile users are telling me they got the first update but not NoDo. A number of folks are claiming the rollout is happening geographically, from East Coast to West, here in the U.S. It sounds like both are definitely coming, but the timing may depend on your location....