AT&T confirms Tango for Lumia 900; Words with Friends, Draw Something 60 day exclusive to Nokia

In addition to announcing the availability of the new Pink Lumia 900, AT&T today have also confirmed that the Tango update (either build 8773 or the slightly newer 8779) will also be coming to the Lumia 900. From the AT&T blog:

“Nokia is also bringing a lot of new enhancements to the Lumia 900. Nokia Lumia users will begin to see software updates for Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh in the coming weeks, which will add several new capabilities to their devices including flip-to-silence.”

We detail some of those new capabilities here in a previous post--in short, enhancements to MMS including multiple messages, voice notes and some minor fixes are included. In addition, AT&T reiterated that Nokia will be bringing a usage tracking counter and a new contact sharing feature in the near future as well, continuing Nokia’s trend to “fill the gaps” in Windows Phone for its customers.

Finally, it has been confirmed that those super popular Zynga games—Draw Something and Words with Friends—will be coming this fall exclusively to Nokia Lumia phones for the first 60 days. While these exclusivity agreements often annoy non-Lumia owners, the 60 day wait should not be too bad of a wait and seems fair to us (assuming Nokia was vital to the deal and assisted Zynga financially).

Overall, not bad news at all and it at least the Lumia 900 is continuing to get direct support from Nokia.

There’s no word if other AT&T Windows Phones will be getting Tango as well but seeing as the Focus S, Focus Flash and unlocked Dell Venue Pro already are we’re confident that the HTC Titan II and Titan I will as well. If you haven't received an update for your Samsung device, you can try our guide here to get it now.

Source: AT&T (opens in new tab); Thanks, Alexander, for the tip

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.

156 Comments

this is why you buy lumia over titan's folks
Right!
This
Hell yeah!!!
Amen brother. Go Nokia!!!!
Nope no sound enhancer no buy
I've owned both Titans and a Lumia 900. The speakerphone and headphone audio on the Lumia is FAR superior to the Titan. You should listen to them side by side. It's a pretty big difference.
Yes, if you are lucky enough to have Lumia that doesn't have faults in this area...
Yup, me too. Until Nokia pays attention on sound quality I will stick with HTC.
I have had no sound issues except at times its too darn loud when I am not expecting it!
Yup, me too. Until Nokia pays attention on sound quality I will stick with HTC.
Dude the sound enhancer on the HD 7 titan got nothing on the lumia speakers.. Trust me when I say this. Although the titan is faster to execute..1.5ghz baby.. But the clearblack display,the apps the design men u are really different when you have a lumia
I get your point. Happy for Nokia but still loving my awesome Titan 2. I love the ecosystem and all the OEMs and carriers that support it.
true if you wanna get better apps with a inferior phone.
Titan 2 all the way.
Seriously.
Your point is a fair one, but I still love my Titan. Especially the camera.
At the end of the day we will all be stuck at 7.8.
Lol that's very true. Once all these exclusivity deals run out everyone will be left with the same apps and same OS (for the most part).
Maybe for Samsung Focus?? Lol.
Lol yeah
Already got Tango for my Samsung Focus
Through ATT?
See my response to aubreyq
Care to share how??
Via the Zune trick. Switch the phone's data and Wi fi off. Connect to computer via USB, Zune loads, go to Settings, select Update and as the progress bar hits the end, immediately disconnect the network connection to the PC. It will take a few tries to get the timing right.
How? I mean do you have 8773?
See my response to aubreyq
Nokia is my manufacturer of choice. I own a N8, but I am sooo ready to purchase a Nokia WP8 device. So impressed by their Customer Service and goodwill towards their current Lumia users; they are really going above and beyond all oems (not just WP oems).

I'm still considering a Lumia 900, I just wished the non committment price was lower and that someone from ATT could guarantee that I can keep my current paygo plan. Unless that happens, I'll just keep using my N8 :(
YOu can get lumia for 200 on craigslist
Not sure about the go plan though
Get a Lumia 900 for $200-250 on eBay or Craiglist and then put your plan on H2O or Red pocket 60 dollars unlimited talk text and 2GB of data..
This is why you go with a manufacturer who actually loves WP and is not in it half assed. ;)
Nokia was a sinking ship with Symbian. Microsoft is a cash cow. There wasn't really a choice Nokia. Microsoft is hammering android manufacturers. Which they should for using their patents. Still don't hate on HTC, Samsung, dell, LG etc. There not controlled by Microsoft like Nokia.
Damn Nokia!!! I have to continually ask myself why I have an HTC phone like almost everyday >.
It's not Nokia's fault you know. It's htc's they can't fucked to do anything to bring apps or exclusives to your phone
HTC still has something that Nokia has yet to bring and that's sound enhancer.
Well thanks to HTC, i didnt even know they had that...

Ill stick with Nokia
Might be better not to have crappy sound files that need a glorified equalizer in the first place.
It's not just an equalizer,it creates a surround sound effect
I've been waiting for someone to say this. It's like waxing a rusted car.
You're boring me... I got a Titan since October. Good phone that I would gladly trade for a 900... Maybe even an 800. Screw sound enhancer... The phone sound is dreadful and the enhancer is like fighting a war with an airgun.
I have the sound enhancer, and it sucks. Bad. I played with it fr a couple of weeks before giving up on it, it enhances parts at the expense of others. In the end nothing sounds as good as off. Tried with headphones and with direct connection in the car using the car eq to try and fixit to no avail. Useless. This is on a Titan II, maybe others are better?
Maybe its because you're too wimpy to handle the enhancements it provides
Go take a picture. When you look at how good that picture looks you'll be happy you have a HTC. Preview isn't here yet.
Agreed. My Mom has a 900 and it's great, but I wouldn't trade for it simply because of the camera on my Titan.
You want to take quality photos put down your phone and get a DSLR. Camera phones are great as a point and shoot but the top notch stuff comes with better optics.
Geez, finally, i hope in the coming weeks does not equal Q1 of 2013.
I like WP, but things like this that will always gets on my nerve. Its like we are being pushed to go with Nokia only. Might as well call it Nokia Phone 8 in the future. This app exclusive thing need to stop. It doesnt reward old user of wp whatsoever, because nokia was (practically) the last player to enter wp.
Well you should tell that to ur wp OEM
why? Nokia is working in partnership with them to get these apps out.

Samsung and HTC has done nothing to support wp7 and you want themt to be allowed to sackride Nokia's work and investment?
If samsung/htc want it to stop, how about they invest in the app as well
Dang The Last Of Us only coming to PS3! Lol, I am still sour over 7.8 vs. 8.0...at least you will get this eventually.
Sony publishes The Last of Us so it's normal to see it only on PS3. This is more like if Call Of Duty was exclusive to one console for 60 days, not just the maps but the actual game... Think about the backlash.
Sort of like how Oblivion was xbox 360 exclusive for a year? and Skyrim Dawnguard is exclusive to the xbox 360 for 30 days? or how GTA The Lost and Damned and GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony were exclusive to the xbox 360 for a few months? or how Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6, and Black Ops 2 will get Xbox 360 timed exclusive DLCs? or even the Resident Evil 6 demo that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 for 2 months?
Chris S counter pointed expertly.
Reminds me of GTA 4 PC version(a few years back). Promised a few times and 6 months later it released. There was a LOT of ticked off people because it was said it was going to release at the same time (I was waiting for the PC version and I was pissed about it, I hope they dont pull the same crap with GTA 5)

The Last of us is done buy the same company who makes the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog (one of the best series for the PS3, the reason I got mine) and they are still PS3 only... If they came to 360, I would buy them again just for the achivements :)

The Last of US is one of the very few upcomming games that I will have on RELEASE DAY (it looks that good). I have a Modded PS3 and I might just unmod it for this game..

Back on topic, the exclusive is only for 60 days, and if you really have that much of an issue because you have a HTC, get a Marketplace changer from XDA and download it to your phone. but, they are talking later this year, so are we going to have WP8 devices along with these apps ?
Sony had a whole bunch of 3rd party exclusives for the PS2 all to hijack sales of the more superior original Xbox.
Assuming that Nokia is actually single-handedly bringing all of these developers to the platform to begin with, I'd figure that a 60-day wait would be pretty fucking ok, as opposed to... Never?
+1
Okay, so there is no point then for anyone to buy a phone other than Nokia, should they prefer WP8 in the future? I mean, this temporary fragmentation really hurts. Imagine if you picked up a HD7 at the start of wp and supporting it till now. Do you really need to buy new nokia at this moment just to get all the exclusive thing? I thought the experience was suppose to be the same across all wp devices.
The core experience is the same across all WP devices - most devices are running the WP 7.5 OS.

The icing on the top is what the oem brings to their devices - if this is what you consider fragmentation, then by your definition, WP has been fragmented since its inception!

Bottom line: OEM's differentiate by bringing their 'icing' (exclusive apps) to the cake; Nokia's icing is sweeter and has a cherry on top!
There almost isnt a reason to buy any other WP phone other than Nokia as samsung and HTC put out devices and didn't follow up with support.
Nokia did. The experience is not the same already as each OEM has their dedicated collections lists. NOkia has theres, HTC has theres, Samsung has theres, it just so happens that Nokia's collection list is so much better than HTC and Samsungs, people that dont have Nokia phones are upset.
If Nokia is working with Rovio and Zynga directly to get these apps, no different than NOkia developing their own apps that aren't available to Samsung/HTC users. As a 900 owner, i cant use Samsung's and HTCs dedicated apps, i can give a sh1t because they suck.
At least the apps are just timed exclusive as opposed to permanently exclusive. Again, if HTC and Samsugn wanted these apps, they could of done the work like Nokia did. We all know Nokia is struggling as well, but still continue to support.
Until WP gets a more substatial market share, this is going to exist, so if 1 OEM wants to put up money to make their product more attractive, that's how it's gonna roll. Blame the OEM's that aren't doing anything instead of Nokia.
You really sound dumb. Nokia is the only manufacturer reaching out to the developers of popular apps and giving them monetary incentives to make apps for wp7. Non commital companies like HTC and Samsung will benefit from nokia's negotiations, you will only have to wait 60 days. Why don't you put the blame where it lies?
Yea, maybe i am dumb. So dumb that I picked a wp device first time it came out and now having to deal with all this exclusivity thing. I guess all you new wp and nokia users are lucky then. Lets just let the early adopters like me wither and die in the corner.
I'm an early adaptor with the Samsung focus and still own an HTC trophy for work. They don't support there devices like Nokia and this is a fact. As stated trophy for work and focus was my first wp7. I purchased them on launch day
I bought my Samsung Focus on the first day it was released. I'm not upset with Nokia or the exclusives at all. Samsung, HTC, Dell, whoever, could have paid for us to have these apps. They didn't buy them and in many ways didn't do much of anything to support us. Also, look at it this way, if you were an early adopter like me, you can get a WP8 phone under contract sooner. Personally, I am buying one from Nokia the first day they are available.
You picked up a WP7 device on release ? Well you contract will be up by the time they are released and you can get a new WP8 device then pick a Nokia if you want.
I must say, the level of complaining and whining is atrocious. Do you want an award for being an early adopter too? You consider yourself being left to "whither and die" because you have to wait a little longer to get an app that we may not get for a year or at all for all we know? Maybe you should switch platforms on your next phone. You are obviously unhappy with WP. I hope all who threatened to leave the platform if all their expectations are not met actually do so. Then, maybe those of us who enjoy it for what it is and will become (good and bad) can enjoy it in good company.
@Electric Jack Every single day we go through this. Couldn't agree more.
@electric jack
easy to say if you have the leisure of choice to choose nokia now dont you?
Not asking about a bloody trophy, not threatening to move platform either,
But picture this:
WP 7 got released, you are being promised that the experienced is the same across devices, you got excited, put your faith in them, and get a wp7.
Further along, it seems that microsoft is using nokia as its own OEM and start to giving us all this exclusive to Nokia thing.
Had nokia came from the start, it would be easier for people to choose now eh? they came as late as after HTC already released their Titan and Radar late last year, and you are telling me that i cant complain?
Thats like saying "thank you for buying WP 7 when it came out, now you need to buy Nokia again because they will have all the latest stuff. Your phone is screwed".
Thats not on.
Again, i dont mind getting WP8 when my contract is up and most probably everyone who has been badly hurt (like me) will choose Nokia now. So, why bother choosing HTC or Samsung? no more freedom to choose whatever device you want. Which is....sad. Might as well go with the name Nokia Phone 8, because apparently (as you all suggested here), only nokia bothers with WP.
More complaining that you were cheated and damn Nokia for doing a good job towards their customers. How dare they! Poor HTC and Samsung for not lifting a finger to help the platform so now everyone wants those evil Nokias. Curse them for trying to bring apps to the platform and making non Nokia users wait months to get an app instead of possibly never.(especially to those of us who will have Wp7 for a while as devs start to move towards wp8.) Get over it and move on. It is a freaking phone. This won't be the last disappointment in your life.
Obviously you didnt get my point about not having a choice when i first got my WP 7. Dont know whether you didnt get it, or just plain ignorant.
and Obviously it wont be the last disappointment, cause in the end everybody got screwed up on the 7.8 update thing. (well sort of screwed up, depend on which angle you take a look at it from)
Enjoy your new nokia then. enjoy the support Nokia will be giving on your 2 years contract on WP 7.8.
On the bright side, people here are right. Why bother with exclusivity when im gonna leave the 7.5/7.8 environment anyway because my contract will be up in the very near future. Time to go to 8.
Nokia is helping devs with Microsoft's money. Nokia was sinking. You might as well say Microsoft owns Nokia. Microsoft gave a billion dollars to Nokia. Nokia gives put some of that money to get exclusives.
Don't worry. I bet RIM will be next. Microsoft want buy them outright. They'll just adopt them like they did Nokia. Then Nokia and RIM will get preferential treatment.
I am still waiting for Tango in my Nokia Lumia 710 (T-Mobile USA). It was supposed to get by June 20th and that never happened!=/
I feel you there. I'm still waiting for my Tango update on my T mobile Lumia 710. What the hell!!!!
You can always force update. Just 1 or 2 clicks install. Pretty easy.
+100000000000000
Well folks while the unlocked HTC Titan has been nice, its time to sell this bad boy and get an unlocked Nokia Lumia. Clearly, Nokia is the only ones fully invested in doing anything innovative and exclusive for their users. HTC, Samsung we waited long enough.
ViVa La Nokia!
If Nokia investors were Nokia users there wound't be such negativity around the stock. Nokia is just knocking it outta the park on product differentiation, value-add, and customer support.
Awesome.
True dat!
A 60 days exclusivity would be fine now but this fall, it's a pretty bad idea. This fall, HTC and Samsung will finally release worthy phones and their customers will be punished for not buying Nokia... Not the best start for Windows Phone 8 really. Again I'm fine with all the exclusive Nokia apps but not exclusivity on 3rd party apps. Same goes for PayPal, the longer it takes to get released the longer Windows Phone 8 customers will have to wait for it.
Tahiti Bob - If Nokia is footing the bill for the exclusivity, then Lumia users benefit from Nokia's efforts.

After all of this time, still nothing from HTC or Samsung making any sort of effort such as this for their WP users. HTC and Samsung are the ones who are doing the punishing, not Nokia.
Still doesn't make my point invalid. When WP8 comes out, no customer should be alienated because by then we expect HTC and Samsung to release pretty impressive hardware. Actually it's not an OEM's job to get apps to the platform it's the platform holder's job. Not to mention the issue with those who can't get a Nokia because of their carrier.
I'll say it again.

Until WP gets a more substatial market share, this is going to exist, so if 1 OEM wants to put up money to make their product more attractive, that's how it's gonna roll. Blame the OEM's that aren't doing anything instead of Nokia.

And MS is doing a lot to bring apps to the platform, including coding some of them themselves. Google didn't do anything to bring specific apps to market other than gain market share which was mostly thanks to Verizon's DROID blitz.
also if you truly feel like your getting punished by nokia note that they also gave up exclusivity on their own nokia drive app and are allowing it to be put on all wp8 including samsung and htc's.....
Stop blaming Nokia for being willing to pay third party app developers if that's what it takes unlike Samsung and HTC. They should use the money Microsoft committed to them wisely like Nokia is doing. Does anyone here remember MS commuting so many millions to Nokia and Samsung???
Microsoft told OEM's this is how you make a name for yourself on WP and only Nokia heeded their advice. Nokia just gives you more incentive to buy their device other than just great hardware and industrial design. Samsung, HTC, LG, DELL and ZTE are all to blame for their inability to entice more users to their phones. Investors and users should pissed off at the right people and those people aren't Nokia.
These apps are old. Its important that we get these apps when everyone else gets them.
Yea I've been on a focus since day one and im getting pretty frustrated with the lack of basic apps on the platform. I'm almost tempted to try iPhone 5 since Microsoft is giving away all the exclusivity windows phone would have anyways.
I agree, windows phone platform needs to be there right along side the competition at best. What's the point in obtaining these apps now? Everyone else had their fill, and is bored with the games now. I mean sure, be it that they're just games...but what about other useful, must-have apps on the future? WP needs the developers to consider it's platform right along side the iOS & Android platforms. I know this is something we all know about by now, and has been said and done, but I feel WP8 will change that with the expansion of hardware, as well as the OS. The expansion of hardware is what will catch the OEM's attention, and from there the domino effect will begin. The selection of hardware is what makes Android soo popular...it makes consumers feel they have more options and selection, while Apple...well, they make people feel like they're worth their overpriced hardware and their "so-easy-a-caveman-could-do-it" OS.
This should change when WP8 devices are released, that Native code will make a BIG difference when porting apps over... That is the biggest issue right now, it's not easy currently to port a iOS or Android app over. Microsoft claimed a lot quicker (a few days vs months) because of the new code support
In four months will know if WP8 will hang with the big boys or crash and burn.Not if ,but when the next big app hits, and it's on IOS and Android and not WP8 it will be a short life for WP8.Love WP and it's what I carry in my pocket,but I also have a Mytouch 4g for the things that WP is falling behind in.
Way to go Nokia throwing money at Zynga to get a exclusive ,all Nokia is doing is alienating the rest of the user base.
Techinically, the user base you speak of alienated themselves as they chose to purchase a HTC or Samsung device, instead of a Nokia, to begin with.
Some don't have a choice, i.e. non AT&T/T-mobile customers.
If they didn't pay to bring them to their devices first, they likely wouldn't be coming at all to WP so be glad for that at least for now.
You probably have to wait longer for these apps to show up if Nokia didn't give them money to make these apps for Windows Phone. You have to thanks Nokia and not complaining.
Clearly, without Nokia, you are not getting these apps until wp8 at the earliest if ever.
I'm not so sure they're "throwing money at Zynga" to get exclusives rather than the exclusive being the reward for getting Zynga to the table to make the games in the first place for Windows Phone, in addition to probably helping actual development. In other words, I highly doubt Zynga was already making these games and Nokia was like "here, take our money and let us have it first!". And alienating the rest of the user base? I think the reception so far is been mostly "I need to get a Nokia Windows Phones next time" which is a good thing for them.
I was asumming that WP8 was suppose to take care of the porting issues and we were going to get these apps anyways.Or is this still going to be a big problem for WP8.Nokia doing this makes me think that porting popular apps to WP8 is still going to be a big issue.
This has become ridiculous. Ot would be one thing if you could get a decent Nokia phone on someone other than AT&T. But for a lot of us, we feel like we are being held ransom by AT&T. They charge the most outrageous rates, offer the worst service, and offer the worst costumer support. And how do they get away with it? They gobble up every good phone on the market. Give all the carriers the same phone options and AT&T'a market share drops like an anvil sky diving. Ok Nokia; you want us to buy Nokia phones so you buy put exclusives from under the other manufacturers. THEN GIVE US HIGH END OPTIONS WITH SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE CROOKS AT ATT&T ALREADY!
Sorry about the typos. This is what happens when your keyboard disappears 20 times a minute.
You seriously believe other providers approached Nokia wanting to sell their phones and they said no thanks we'll stick with AT&T? Dude, other providers had no interest so go complain to them not Nokia.
Stop whinning and get a Lumia, then maybe your keyboard won't be disappearing. I know mine ain't.
Blame the carriers that turned down the option to get a Lumia. They took a wait and see attitude. The OEM doesn't make that call.
They didn't turn down Nokia, AT&T paid for exclusivity.
I am not being held for ransom by ATT and I have been with them since the Cingular days. I have a family plan with my wife and two grown children and trhe bill is around 245.00 for unlimited text and I have unlimited data with my L 900 which was grandfathered in and my wife and daughter have an iPhone and 4S with smartphone data 3GB and my son has a skyrocket II we share 850 minutes and have the mobile to mobile. Thats not a bad price in my view! I dont consider their service to be bad and customer service isnt bad i9n my excperience. IOf you've had issues I fell sorry for yopu but I've rarely had anything bad by way of C/S once or twice in 14 years. Crroks ATT no way from my perspective. And Nokia gives all the carriers the ability to have their phones. Verizon passed Sprint still hasnt signed on but according to Nokia both will getting W8P devices. Its up to the carrier to say yes to the device. If a carrier commits with their wallet to buy the devices Nokia will do it. No pay no play! Dont blame Nokia and dont blame ATT. Blame the other carriers for not showing Nokia the $$$ like ATT did. Be an adult and stop whining!.
Moan to the other OEM's and carriers for not doing the same as Nokia and at&t. Nokia is just doing what they have to to stay in business, and other carriers did not request higher end WP's. Don't blame Nokia for others laziness.
Thanks Nokia for making my Lumia 900 the best Windows Phone :)
My next phone is definitely a Nokia WP8. I came from iPhone 4S and multiple android phones.
Received survey from Samsung Focus today, and pretty much gave them a bad review because of this very reason lack of OEM support, and how Nokia handle their issue with WP7 users. Great Job Nokia.
Bad ass, good all around. Will still get new windows 8 phone when it comes out.
Ms is going the apple route having on device , just look st the surface. Ms knows nokia can survive if sells 90 percent of windows phone but will die if there going after scraps
As a current HTC HD7 user I applaud Nokia for their efforts and customer service. They certainly have my business this fall with WP8.
What about the paypal and groupon apps they announced in May ???
Groupon has been here since nearly WP7's creation...