The first region to welcome the Nokia Lumia 900 outside of North America is the U.K. today, which is now available today exclusively from Phones4U in white and other retailers over the next few days. With the release of the phone has come a  revelation: Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh (aka the Tango update) is preloaded on the device and it comes with some surprises.

The Verge picked up a U.K. Nokia Lumia 900 and spotted one of Nokia's first OS-level software customizations in the phone -- a rebranded Marketplace tile. As you can see in the photo above, the new Nokia Marketplace tile shares some similarities to the logo used in their MeeGo and Symbian Belle devices. This shouldn't be much of a surprise considering that this was what Microsoft's Windows Phone partnership with the company was all about, but it's still a little jarring to see something so distinctive rebranded.

Interestingly, about a week ago NokiaPowerUser reported that this would happen, although they only had a tipster's info to rely on at the time. However since this part of their rumor has been proven true, we can also assume the rest of the details they reported on about Nokia's Tango update will also be true. That means the update probably includes the improved battery life, a Bluetooth file transfer app (!), and support for internet sharing.

Returning to The Verge's report, they conclude that something similar could happen with Barnes & Noble's Nook partnership and potentially Samsung as well, due to their patent licensing agreement from last year. We also have a feeling this is just one of many ways carriers and manufacturers will be able to customize the software experience of Windows Phone in the future.

Thanks for the tip, Schyler.

Source: The Verge, NokiaPowerUser