unlocked

Sure, the Nokia Lumia 810 will go down as one of the fastest “blink and you’ll miss it” devices on T-Mobile, but that doesn’t it’s not worth having—maybe even for a backup. Luckily, Groupon, that bastion for smartphone fire sales, has a special going for the next 4 days for the device, completely unlocked.

Featuring GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and HSDPA (850/1700/1900/2100), users on T-Mobile and even AT&T can get in on the action. Sure, there’s no 4G LTE but as a world phone? Not a bad deal.

Nokia's newest economically-friendly offering, the Lumia 520 has showed up for sale on eBay. This black or red, factory unlocked version looks to be the first 520 to be offered in the US and can be purchased outright for $239.99 using the Buy It Now option. Shipping is free.

Of all the Nokia devices to have been graced by custom ROMs, the Lumia 900 to our knowledge remains an exception. Before one applies a custom ROM, the so-called bootloader needs to be “unlocked” (and that’s very different from SIM unlocking). We won’t get into the messy details, but that’s the gist of it and so far, the 900 has not been unlocked  for loading some sweet custom work.

Up in Canada there has been some confusion around the status of the Nokia Lumia 920 on Rogers. It appears that early shipments of the phone were SIM unlocked and what’s more, they had the AWS 1700 band on board allowing it to work on WIND and T-Mobile US. That prospect at least offered some hope to those on those carriers without the 920 (aka most of them).

We’ve since verified that the later shipments of the 920 on Rogers are not SIM unlocked though you could pay the Canadian carrier $50 to do so (assuming you bought it under contract). As terrible as that is it’s still better than AT&T, which to our knowledge has not given out any unlock codes for 920 users.

Pre-order now, get it at the same time as everyone else

Preorders are kind of like the teaser preview in technology—they cost virtually nothing to produce but get a lot of people talking. Such is the case with Expansys now offering pre-orders for the ATIV S from Samsung.

The page is up both in Italy and even the US although there is no price listed nor ETA for a shipping date—in other words, they’re doing it for the links and headlines because let's be honest, this won't sellout early like the iPhone.

Nokia's network configuration app has been missing for months

Finally some news for all of you who have been itching for Nokia's Network Setup app, according to Nokia Support it's the final stages of submission to the Marketplace and should be available late next week. From a post on their support site:

"I can now let you know that a new version of the Network Setup app will be reviewed this week to go live and it should be published worldwide later this week (wk24). Please be aware that propagation through Marketplace may take an additional 3-5 days after the app is published."

The Network Setup app is crucial for pulling down SMS, MMS and carrier gateways for unlocked Lumia phones. In short, if you've unlocked your Nokia handset and threw in a new SIM you most likely were able to make phone calls but things like data and sending MMS were hit or miss. With this app, you can detect network settings to auto configure your phone.

The app went missing a few months ago without much word from Nokia. Presumably there were some issues with the app and it had to undergo some changes. That process looks now to be complete.

Incidentally, our Lumia 610 did ship with Network Setup pre-installed so Nokia is not losing those on the unlocked phone front just yet. But at least for all others your trouble should be over soon. We'll keep you posted when it goes live in the Nokia Collection.

Source: Nokia Support; Thanks, Shelby M., for the tip

Clove UK, a mobile phone retailer, has published an article on their blog confirming pricing details for the Lumia 610 and Lumia 900 (our review), which are both heading to the shores. Unfortunately they don't have an ETA as to when the Windows Phones will begin to ship to consumers. 

Should you desire to pre-order the Lumia 610 and / or 900 unlocked from Clove, you'll be set back £228 and £486 (including VAT) respectively. A fairly attractive price for those who aren't locked in contracts and are looking for a smartphone that's both feature rich and affordable.

Source: Clove UK (Pre-order: Lumia 610 / Lumia 900); thanks Tahiti for the heads up!

The Lumia 900 is available unlocked in white on eBay for £499, with an availability date of April 9th. The seller is sunnydayshopping, who has a positive rating history, and the location is Manchester, UK. Bands supported are: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100. An unlocked international version of the handset was previously available on eBay from the U.S. not so long ago for the same price.

The Lumia 900 is also destined for AT&T on April 9th, when we'll expect consumers will be able to get their hands on the device, which sports a 1.4Ghz chip, 1830mAh battery, 4.3" AMOLED ClearBlack display and 8MP shooter (with FF camera).

Three have been sold already, so be sure to check out the listing should you be interested in the high-end Windows Phone. Of course, WPCentral cannot take any responsibility for your purchases on eBay, and we always recommend caution.

Source: eBay; thanks hamza for the tip!

The LG Optimus 7 is available unlocked for an incredibly low price of just $159. The special offer is at Catch Of The Day, an Australian deal site, but you'll have to act fast should you wish to snap a purchase as the handset is only at this price for another 13 hours.

The Optimus 7 (some hands-on footage) is a solid first generation Windows Phone, packing a 3.8" display, 1Ghz CPU, 5MP shooter and 16GB storage. At this price, who could complain? The same Windows Phone experience at an incredible price. There is one slight issue, as WPDownUnder points out, this device is a 900 band 3G unlocked phone that will be restricted to Virgin and Optus (no Telstra NextG).

Source: Catchoftheday, via: WPDownUnder