The Nokia Lumia 930—which is basically a GSM-based version of the highly regarded and Verizon-based Lumia Icon—will be available for sale in Europe, Asia and the Middle East this week, Microsoft reports. It will be rolled out around the world—but not in the US, sadly—over the coming weeks.
I've written a bit about the Lumia 930 before, in Nokia Lumia 930 Preview and Nokia Press Event: Hands-On with the New Lumias. But here's the short version: The Lumia 930 is an international version of the Lumia Icon, meaning it shares the same quad-core processor, the same great 5-inch 1080p screen, the same terrific 20 megapixel camera, the same nice industrial design, and the SensorCore technologies for fitness apps. But it does come with the following mostly-minor differences:
Windows Phone 8.1. The 930 comes preinstalled with Windows Phone 8.1, whereas the Icon comes with Windows Phone 8(.0, and can of course be upgraded).
GSM radios. The 930 is compatible with the GSM-style mobile networks used around the world, whereas the Icon was designed for Verizon's CDMA-based network.
Colors. Where the Icon features conservative black and white options, the 930 is a lot more fun and features Nokia's new 2014 colors (green and orange) plus black and white.
Dolby surround sound. Microsoft says that the Lumia 930 is "the world's first smartphone that can capture and playback high-quality audio in Dolby Surround Sound." Looking at the Icon specs, I see that the Verizon device has "Dolby Headphone" support, which I assume is the playback bit available in the 930 as well.
If you are on AT&T or TR-Mobile here in the US, it is (or soon will be) technically possible to get a Lumia 930 from an importer such as Expansys. That said, you're going to really need to pay attention to the supported network types. On AT&T, for example, I believe you will only get HSPA speeds (kind of a pseudo 4G), but not LTE. I'm not sure about T-Mobile. (And if anyone has more information about these possibilities, please leave a note in the comments. I'd consider getting one of these phones if it made sense.)
That said, it may be prohibitively expensive at first, too. It costs $599 before subsidies in Europe, for example, so I'd expect the unlocked price to be about that.
