Official Windows Phone 7 Unlock Tool Now Available

The official Microsoft Windows Phone 7 unlock tool is now available (or will be once a bug is fixed) for all WP7 users that are willing to fork over $9 per to unlock their smartphones.

The process is fairly simply and pretty straightforward:

• You'll need a Windows Live ID (it can be different from your Windows Phone Live ID)
• Following the Windows Live Log-in you'll be prompted to allow ChecronWP& Labs access to your email address and asked to setup a quick profile
• You have to purchase an "unlock token". Cost is $9.00 via PayPal and is good for infinite unlocks per single phone.
• Download and install the unlocking application
• Your phone will be placed in a queue to be unlocked and that's it!

Now in the case of WP7 unlocking the term takes on a bit different meaning than in most cases. The "unlock" tool, does not remove the phone's SIM card lock for use on other carriers as it would for other phones. In this case "unlocking" is more like an iPhone jailbreak, in other words you are opening the phone up to install, run, and debug unsigned, or "homebrew" code. Much like jailbreaking it's a way to run apps from outside of Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace.

If you're looking for homebrew Windows Phone apps, the XDA-Developers forum has a section dedicated to the topic. Here are a few interesting apps found via the ChevronWP7 site and the XDA forums:

• Screen Capture v3 - Take screenshots from your Windows Phone 7 to share a funny SMS or illustrate an app on a blog post
• Mango Battery Status - Check your phone’s battery life on a Live Tile
• Webserver (Mango) - Why wouldn’t you run a web server on your phone