Microsoft is making an unlocked version of the Nokia 1020 available on its site starting Tuesday, but it's only available to T-Mobile and AT&T subscribers.
The unlocked version will sell for $549 without a contract and is only accessible for T-Mobile and AT&T as it is a GSM enabled phone. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA networks, which does not support GSM phones. A customer can buy the phone and use a SIM card to operate it.
The phone does support 4G LTE, so potential customers need not worry about streaming the latest shows on Netflix or Hulu.
The unlocked version comes with the same specs as the contract version. It has a 4.5-inch screen with 1,280x768-pixel resolution. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, it includes 32 GB of storage and a 41-megapixel PureView camera with a Carl Zeiss lens.
Buying the unlocked phone will give customers the option of jumping from subscriber to subscriber, in this case from T-Mobile to AT&T. This will keep customers away from a two-year contract that locks you in to one specific provider. Also, AT&T has an exclusive agreement to sell the Lumia 1020, so T-Mobile subscribers who have been wanting to buy the phone can do so now.
The only downside is that a user will have to pay for the phone upfront and they are restricted to GSM networks.