i ended up in same situation but Nothing support team are for rescue…..
i had to tarvel to North America on a office work….unfortunaly my phone 2a was delivered on the day of my travel..
i didnt get a chance to open the phone and set it up…later realized that i need to activate phone with an Indian Only SIM for first time…which i am not aware off….
But i have reached the Nothing support for help and explaine dmy situation and they were quick to unlock my phone and unable to use teh temporary SIM here…it was great and faster support…kudo’s to the support team.
But the issue here is the phone should not be locked in first place for a region specific activation….why? as in INDIA there is no carrier contracts in place and any phone sold in INDIA is a unlocked/SIM free phones… i dont really understand why Team Nothing are doing this ?????? Choice needs to be with customers right???
Hope Nothing works on this in future updates and Set its users free of such hassles…..
Note: Even its unlocked, remember by an chance in future you reset your device to factory settings…and out of INDIA still you need to reach back to support to unlock it again