Microsoft releases first major Windows Phone 7 update bringing copy and paste support and performance improvements

According to reports from WinRumors, Microsoft today officially released the first major update, dubbed “NoDo,” for Windows Phone 7 to unbranded handsets. The company will be gradually releasing the update to all WP7 smartphone users over the next few weeks. According to the first few users who have already installed NoDo onto their handsets, the build number the update carries is 7390, entitled “Windows Phone Update, March 2011.″

The NoDo update for Windows Phone 7 brings several performance improvements to Microsoft's newest mobile operating system, but also adds support for copy and paste functionalities, something that was notably missing from the OS when it shipped late last year.

Microsoft has posted a full overview of what users can expect from the NoDo update on their devices, which we've included below:

• Copy & paste. You asked for it—now it's here. Just tap a word and drag the arrows to copy and paste it on your phone. You can copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and paste it anywhere you can type. To learn more, see Copy & paste.
• Faster apps and games. Nobody likes to wait. That's why we've whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It's all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.
• Better Marketplace search. We've streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the Apps or Games section of Marketplace and you'll see only apps or games in the results. Press Search in the Music section of Marketplace to search just the music catalog.
• Other Marketplace improvements. We've improved the stability of Marketplace while you download apps. We've also improved the experience of downloading apps larger than 20 megabytes, upgrading from trial apps to paid apps, using a credit card with an address outside the United States, sharing links to apps via email, sorting Xbox LIVE games by release date, and creating an Xbox LIVE account from within the Games Hub.
• Wi-Fi improvements. We now display your phone's Media Access Control (MAC) address in Settings. (You might need this info if you try to connect to a Wi-Fi network that uses MAC address filtering. To learn more, see Connect to a Wi-Fi network.) We've also removed the limit on the number of Wi-Fi profiles that you can store and reduced the time it takes to start your phone if you've stored lots of Wi-Fi profiles.
• Outlook improvements. We've improved the experience of viewing iPhone photo attachments you receive from a non-Exchange-based email account (such as a Google Mail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail account), using the Global Address List (GAL) when connecting to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, and working with email display names that contain brackets (for example, “David Alexander [Contoso]“).
• Messaging improvements. We've improved the experience of receiving Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages if your phone uses a PIN-locked SIM.
• Facebook integration. We've improved the experience of syncing Facebook accounts.
• Camera improvements. We've improved the stability of switching between camera and video modes.
• Audio improvements. We've improved the experience of using a Bluetooth headset to make calls when you're playing music or videos.
• Other performance improvements. This month's update also includes software from several phone manufacturers that improves the performance of specific models. Naturally, if you don't have one of the affected models, we won't install this portion of the update on your phone.

Have you received the update notification yet? Let us know in the comments!

Copy and paste in Windows Phone 7