Orange W810i from Argos - unlocked/unbranded?

tomos42

Hi all,
Argos are selling the Sony Ericsson W810i on Orange for £59.99 at the moment, which seems like quite a good deal to me.
Does anyone know if this handset will come unlocked to other networks and, more importantly, will the firmware be Orange branded?
If so, is there any way to put unbranded firmware on?

Many thanks!

Quentin

Almost certain to come locked and branded.

Google to find a debranding/unlocking service. Should be around £20

shere1

You can debrand and patch unlock it yourself for free.

http://hotukdeals.com/item/128979/sony-ericsson-w810i-inc-512mb-memor/showpost.php?p=1398484&postcount=213

I have used the guide to debrand and patch unlock several W810i

tomos42

Many thanks to you both!
@shere1 - I assume I can follow the same instructions for an Orange branded phone as for a Virgin one?

shere1

tomos42 wrote: »

Many thanks to you both!
@shere1 - I assume I can follow the same instructions for an Orange branded phone as for a Virgin one?

If it is identified as a CID49 red in setool lite then you will be ok. Click identify in setoolite 2.

Please backup your GDFS before attempting anything (click read GDFS in setoollite 2).

tomos42

Thanks shere. I'll try and order one tonight and see how it goes.

System

I wanted a K810i from both vodaphone and phones4u, but both told me they are no longer available. It seems the K800i came out prior to the 810 with very little difference, because SE were planning to launch the K850i which WOULD be different.

The K800i is free from most stores and my latest addition the K850i was also free from phones4u, although vodaphone wanted to charge me £29.

I could have used any of the providers, but chose to stay with V.

Ref the argos one, I suppose you would be tied down to a tarif of their chosing?

tomos42

It's the W810i I'm interested in. I don't like SE phones with joysticks on, as in my experience they always break, so the K8xx series would not suit my needs.

The Argos offer is a PAYG handset. I'll be using it with my existing O2 contract sim card.

System

Sorry, that's my mistake.