Changing Phone Region

[Zhao Jiuhua]

Hi There,

This is my first post on WPCentral. Since I got my Lumia 920 back in Feb 2013, I am greatly satisfied with everything about Windows Phone 8: The Modern UI is awesome, the apps are obviously catching up with those from iOS and Android, the Microsoft Services (Mail, People, SkyDrive etc.) are quite neat. In short, I believe Windows Phone OS can rise to a top spot, even outmatches the other 2 giants.

However, some issues had seriously affected my experience on the phone, or rather the OS. I purchase, setup, and use the phone in Malaysia (my Microsoft account is definitely set in Malaysia too since I use the local address in the profile). So here comes these issues:

1) The Portico firmware update is not yet available in Malaysia via OTA! (while some countries had even got their GDR2...). Now Nokia Malaysia had announced that we can bring our phone to its Care Center for manual upgrade, but still that's troublesome, man.

2) Some gorgeous apps are not available in Windows Phone Store in Malaysia For example, Wikipedia, Weave News Reader, Jack of Tools Pro and so on. Okay, quite a number of major apps is available here (at least Malaysia Store is much better than some other countries, if I'm not wrong), but still a lot of other nice apps are not published here still.

3) Xbox Live Membership Gold, Xbox Music + Videos, Local Scout are all off too... (but I don't bear too much grunt on this one, because Microsoft had openly declared that these are not supported in Malaysia. Still, I'm looking to spend money here, man...)


I thought that there is no solution to these issues until yesterday, after I read a post about changing phone region. That looks totally like A SALVATION to me! So I'm pretty sure that changing the region would allow me to go to US Store and download all those apps (not sure whether my AmEx and Citibank credit card are accepted or not). From there, several questions arise:

1) Would the switch actually connect me to Phone Update Server in USA, thus allow me to upgrade the firmware to Portico/GDR2? But I'm worry that updating to firmware destined for US region may crash my phone if I switch back to Malaysia region. Seriously don't want to reset my precious phone because of this.

2) How about I switch to US region and never switch back? Obviously Date and Time would need manual setup, currency would be shown in USD instead of MYR, but any other critical effect if I continue using the phone in Malaysia??? How about the local carrier I'm using (particularly calling and cellular data connection, since the SIM is obviously localised one)?

These are my serious questions now. Looking forward for any concrete advises, and really sorry for this freaking long post

 

[woodsielord]

I'm from Turkey and I use the American store. My Turkish credit card wouldn't go through, but the same card through PayPal did (however, my PayPal is from Ireland). Since Ireland isn't USA, I'm thinking probably anything from any PayPal will go through. You'll have to test and see.

 

[miodrage]

Zhao,

first of all, welcome to the community.

Now let me try to answer some of ur questions and doubts.
If no OTA fw available, u might want to download NaviFirm, and I would suggest Nokia Care Suite. From the latter, when u connect ur phone u can get ur product code, which is something like 059C3S2 or 059Q3M1 (I think u get the picture). Okay. That was the first step. Now, when u know ur product code, head over to NaviFirm and seek if there is a newer firmware for ur specific device. So u can download it from there, and throught Nokia Care Suite u can flash it in ur device.
U have a detailed explanation here on the Forums http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...after-reset-flash-process-defined-inside.html
Also, u can do a flash process with a single online download of the file via NCS, but I prefer the old fashioned way, knowing exactly step-by-step (ooooh babyyy) what is happening.
Now, about the apps u miss, and r available in the US, u r correct, u can change ur region and download them (not sure about apps that have to be payed for, but the free apps r free to get). That won't get u ur update, especially not on a different firmware file than ur phone requires, and won't affect the phone in any way.
Hope I was of some help, if any new doubts, just shout

 

[jlink38]

Navifirm, like stated above, is what you want. I purchased my 920 in Italy and flashed it with the CV GB (unbranded generic FW) and have had no issues at all. It should get updates, and can be used just about anywhere.

 

[a5cent]

Would the switch actually connect me to Phone Update Server in USA, thus allow me to upgrade the firmware to Portico/GDR2? But I'm worry that updating to firmware destined for US region may crash my phone if I switch back to Malaysia region. Seriously don't want to reset my precious phone because of this.

It doesn't work that way. The only thing that matters is your devices product code, which differs based on the country and carrier for which your device was released. Only if the OEM has released (and the carrier approved) an update for devices with that product code, will it be made available to you for installation. Your account's country code (Malaysia) plays no role in that process whatsoever.

How about I switch to US region and never switch back? Obviously Date and Time would need manual setup, currency would be shown in USD instead of MYR, but any other critical effect if I continue using the phone in Malaysia??? How about the local carrier I'm using (particularly calling and cellular data connection, since the SIM is obviously localised one)?

Theoretically, if you've got a U.S. account, the Microsoft store shouldn't accept credit cards that were not issued in the U.S. In practice, it may work anyway. In Europe I could advise you, but I don't know about Malaysia.

The problem with this is that Microsoft may accept your credit card today, but decide to change their policy tomorrow. That is the risk involved with this approach. Everything else works fine though. Beyond that issue, there are no other negative side effects. Your carrier has no idea what your accounts country code is (Malaysia, U.S. or whatever) and they do not care.

 

[Zhao Jiuhua]

Hi there,

Thanks a lot to all those who had replied my post! It seems the Navifirm server was down since a few days ago, so guess I can only wait for OTA. Now a few more questions pop out in my mind. I know the simple switching of my Lumia 920 region to USA should allow me to download all those apps which otherwise unavailable for my region of Malaysia. But what's next? Should I switch back to Malaysia region or retain it? Here's the 2 possible scenarios:

1) Switch back to Malaysia region - all previously downloaded apps (from Malaysia Store) and newly downloaded ones (from US Store) should work fine (haven't test it out yet). But would I get update notifications for those US apps now? In my assumption, I would either get none or get notifications (then need to switch to US region again to download the update).

2) Remain at US region - again all apps should work just fine. Those from US Store would obviously get update notifications. But how about those downloaded from Malaysia Store? By right all those Malaysia apps should be available in US Store too (I didn't download any truly Malaysia-localized apps yet) and should be able to get updated straight away without switching back to Malaysia region. Still I prefer someone to confirm about this.

Anyone kind enough to help me out with these new questions? Thanks in advance

 

[miodrage]

U can periodically change the regions, wait a day or 2 for some updates if any and thats it. U can also check WPCentral more often, and u will know if there r updates, and then download them manually.