Get Windows Phone 8 Update 3 Early

While some customers have only just received the GDR 2 update for their Windows Phone 8 handsets, Microsoft is now preparing for GDR 3, which it officially calls “Update 3″. It could be months before many of you receive this new update, thanks to carriers dragging their heels.

However, Microsoft has made Update 3 available for installation now. Strictly speaking, this is just for developers, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay the fee or even know how to write code. Anyone can download and install SDK 8, and that’s all you actually need in order to get Update 3 on your phone right now.

Its a simple process of doing what is called a “developer unlock” of you device. Here’s how to do it.

1. Download and install Windows Phone SDK 8.0. This is the slowest part f this whole process, as the file is 1.6 GB.

2. Plug your phone into your PC via USB, turn the device on and unlock the screen.

3. Now, under Windows Phone SDK 8.0, click on Windows Phone Developer Registration. The app starts, as shown in the following image.

4. Verify that the Status message being displayed reads “Identified Windows Phone 8 device”. Click the Register button to unlock the phone. If the device was previously registered, you’ll get an option to unregister it.

5. Click the “Register” button at the bottom right of the screen and enter your Microsoft account login details.

You have now successfully “developer unlocked” your phone and can install Update 3 to take advantage of all of the new apps and features included in it. Just remember that, once installed, you can not roll back to a previous version of the mobile OS.