This is a bit of a geeky post, if the title means nothing to you, I wouldn’t bother continuing, it’s really not for you! This is will show you how to get WP8.1 on your Nokia Lumia 1020 right now! If you’re unaware of the enhancements in Windows Phone 8.1, there’s a run down here.
It’s still a beta version, although, from a few days usage – it’s pretty solid and works as well as a stable release. These steps might work on other Lumia Devices, I’ve no idea, I’ve just got a 1020! 😉
So, there are a few caveats, this will probably void your warranty, and it might not work on all handsets, if anything goes wrong and you break your phone, it’s not my fault, this is just a guide to what I did.
1. You need a Windows Phone App Studio Account – it’s free and simple to get one just go here to register. Just click on Sign in and go it’ll ask you to sign in to your Microsoft Account – just sign in, and you can get yourself registered pretty easily.
2. Stick the ‘Preview for Developers‘ App on you Lumia 1020 – It’s in the Store, just download and install it.
3. Fire up the Preview for Developers App and it’ll ask you to sign in to your Microsoft Account – so long as you’ve done Step 1 correctly, it’ll work fine, there are a few terms and conditions to accept.
4. If the Preview for Developers App installed and set up correctly, you should now just be able to go into the ‘Settings’, and ‘Phone Update’. A quick tap of the ‘Check for Updates’ button will find that you’ve got a new update to install. Install it!
5. The update will install, and reboot your phone, go back into Settings and Phone Update and Check for further updates. Install this update too, the phone will reboot. There will be a third and final update to install (repeat the check for update procedure again).
6. Once the three updates have completed, you’ll be rocking Windows Phone 8.1!
That’s it. Whilst not particularly taxing do remember you’re heading into un-chartered waters of test versions of phone software, I’m not aware there is any way of undoing the update, so if you’re hesitant, don’t do it.
