Back in 2010, Apple made headlines when an engineer left an iPhone prototype behind in a bar. Shortly after the Nexus 4 was launched, it emerged that someone had left one behind in a bar the month before the phone was unveiled. In both instances, Apple and Google went to great lengths to get their phones back and it seems Microsoft is also eager to keep unreleased phones under wraps.
A Reddit user on Sunday posted images to the social news site showing off a Nokia 920 he had bought on eBay. Except it wasn't actually a 920. "The phone in the pictures looked different," Jeremiah Wong, told The Verge. "Mainly the Start Screen had the feedback hub, also etching on the back that read MSFT."
Wong purchased the phone and was surprised to find that the phone was running an unreleased version of Windows Phone. According to the Verge, the software showed a notification center, improved app navigation, a redesigned Calendar interface, and improvements to multitasking. Verge sources told the site that the phone is carrying an early version of Microsoft Blue.
So where's the phone now? Luckily for Microsoft, the company was able to get it back. Apparently Wong heard from Microsoft's legal team once he posted screenshots and photos online. Redmond said the phone had been lost on a bus and then found and sold on eBay. The company locked the phone and offered to ship Wong a replacement phone as well reimburse him for the cost of the device. Quite different to the massive scale investigation from Apple or thw pushy and military-like" Googler that picked up the missing Nexus 4.
