Unlocked phones and updates

[sirgrant618]

Hi all,

I did a quick search but didn't see anything touching on this specific issue so pardon my ignorance.

In Microsoft's eyes, in terms of updates, is a factory unlocked phone any different from a phone that was sold on a carrier and locked and then became unlocked?

I want to unlock my 920 so I can use it on Tmo (long story) but if that will cripple the update process for GDR2/3 and 8.1, then I think I'll pass. If I unlock the phone and then resume my ATT service, will it behave as if nothing ever happened?


Thanks!

Grant

 

[Darren Walsh]

Unlocking the phone will make no difference on the update process as it's still a branded firmware , what you need to do is flash your phone after you get your phone unlocked with an unbranded rom, then you won't have to wait till it's carrier approved. Just search the forums on this for step by step guidance, in other words unlocking your phone means you can put any sim in it, unbranding your phone means you will get updates when Nokia and MS release them without your carrier needing to release them after testing

 

[foxbat121]

A SIM unlocked carrier branded phone is still considered as part of that branding as far as update goes. So, if you unlock and AT&T phone and use on T-mo, you will still be tied to AT&T for updates, not T-Mo. Factory unbranded phone will be the responsibility of the manufacturer to update them. It may or may not be faster or easier to get updates. Case in point, my unbranded 920 Dev phone got 1308 updates really late (almost until all other carriers updated theirs) and it still doesn't have the second update that resolves AT&T LTE connection issues as I'm using it on AT&T. Ironically, AT&T sent me a text message remind me to upgrade to the newer firmware in order to get optimal network performance but I can't.

 

[Darren Walsh]

I heard about that in the US alright because of the exclusive periods with the carriers, it's the opposite here in Ireland,unbranded phones always get it first, Vodafone Ireland branded is still on 1249 lol