The next version of Windows Phone has been officially unveiled, with Microsoft taking time out of their busy schedule yesterday to show off plenty of new features and ideas that the company will be bringing into their mobile operating system before the end of 2011. We’ve already talked about some of the most noteworthy of the new features, even as we posed the question about whether or not you should be excited about the large “Mango” update. And the update is certainly huge. Microsoft says there’s 500 new features included in the update, which is certainly impressive. But, of the new features we know about, is Windows Phone 7.1 missing anything?

When it comes to listing features that we want in our favorite mobile operating system, it can be pretty lengthy. Especially when we look at the competition, and we see how one platform has one thing, while another may have something else we want. Yet, whichever OS we’re using at the time may not have everything we want, so we’re forced to make due. And, while we’re making due, we have this longing in the back of our heads that maybe -- just maybe -- there will be an update in the future that brings some of that functionality to our favorite platform, so we don’t have to look at the competition longingly anymore.

So with Windows Phone 7.1 coming down the pipe here soon, and with the competition still rocking the many features that it does, is there anything that Windows Phone 7.1 is missing, as of right now, that you’re aware of? I’ve been thinking about it since Microsoft unveiled the upcoming update, and I think right off the top of my head, I’ve decided that the notification system in Windows Phone could probably use a bit of tweaking.

In all actuality, the toaster notifications aren’t bad. But, that doesn’t mean there’s not some room for improvement, either. With my time using Windows Phone, the notifications that appear at the top of the screen are there for, sometimes, too long. And, just on a personal level, I’m not a fan of the notifications still appearing on the screen if I’m in, say, the text message to which the notification is referring me to. If I’m in the message, then the notification does not have to be there. Especially for not as long as it tends to sit there, at the top of the screen before I swipe it away.

Now that I think about it, notifications are a touchy subject for just about every mobile OS out there. Some have it down to a science, with the likes of HP’s webOS and Google’s Android putting the notifications at the very bottom and top of the display respectively. And then there’s BlackBerry OS, which gives you an icon over the application or message service that has a notification present, plus a small icon at the top of the display as well. And then we’ve got Apple’s iOS with its pop-up notifications that take up the middle of your display, interrupting whatever it is you’re doing at the time. Of course, all of the aforementioned mobile notifications will stay present until the user discards them.

For me, just off the top of my head, I think notifications are the one area that Microsoft could certainly work on. So what do you think Windows Phone 7.1 could afford to add to the mix? Is Windows Phone 7.1 missing anything when compared to the competition that you think Microsoft should address sooner, rather than later? Let me know in the comments below what you think.