Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Android 4.3 factory images available for the Google Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Galaxy Nexus



Google promised that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean software update is on its way for Nexus devices. However Google has also released the factory images of Android 4.3 for the Google Nexus 4, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10 and Google Galaxy Nexus.

If you are impatient to wait for the OTA (over-the-air) update to arrive for your device and do not rely on a root, you can proceed with downloading the factory images and flashing them on your Nexus devices. Keep in mind however that installing these images will fully wipe your device as they are not update packages.

The driver binaries for these devices with corresponding Android version (4.3) are also available at developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers, which should allow developers to build their own custom ROMs based on the latest version of Android.

The Android 4.3 update is also being pushed to Android Open Source Project (AOSP) today. This should allow Android 4.3 to pushed to owners of non-Nexus devices as well through the Android developer community.

You can download the official factory images for the Nexus devices using the more convenient list which follows. The new Google Nexus 7 which comes with Android 4.3 out of the box is missing factory images at this point, but should get it eventually.

How to install Android 4.3 Factory image on Nexus device
  • Download your device's factory image
  • Download and install the Android SDK
  • Download and install the Java SE SDK
[NOTE] If your device is rooted, the following guide will remove the root. You will have to re-root your device after installing the Android 4.3 update.

[NOTE] You can use this  guide to update your Nexus device without loosing data (assuming that your bootloader is unlocked)
  1. Extract the factory image and put all the files inside the ..\android-sdk\platform-tools folder
    -
  2. Connect your device to your computer and make sure that USB Debugging is enabled.
    -
  3. Open a command prompt inside the Android SDK platform tools folder.
    -
  4. Type the following in command prompt
    > cd \Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
    > adb devices

    # the following output should be returned
    List of devices attached
    <device serial number>       device
    -
  5. Use adb to boot the device to the bootloader
    > adb reboot-bootloader
    -
  6. The device should now be in fastboot mode and Windows will attempt to install the fastboot driver (if it isnt already installed). You can verify that the fastboot driver is installed by typing
    > fastboot devices
    # the following output should be returned
    <device serial number>      fastboot
    -
  7. Unlock your bootloader if you haven't already by typing (this step may wipe your device)
    > fastboot oem unlock
    -
  8. The following steps will flash the new Android 4.3 system files to your device. I am using the Nexus 4 as an example. Please change the names according to the file names for your device.
    adb reboot bootloader
    fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-mako-makoz20i.img
    fastboot reboot-bootloader
    fastboot flash radio radio-mako-m9615a-cefwmazm-2.0.1700.84.img
    fastboot reboot-bootloader
    fastboot flash system system.img
    fastboot flash boot boot.img
    fastboot format cache
    fastboot reboot
    [NOTE] If you want to to wipe your device (including /sdcard) run the following command after flashing system.img. This step is not necessary if you want to retain your data.
    fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
    -
  9. Once you type the reboot command, the device will reboot upgrade Android and return you to where you left off.

How to root your Nexus device on Android 4.3

Installing the Android 4.3 Factory Image will remove root privileges, if you had them installed previously. You can root your device by following these steps. 

  1. Download a custom recovery of your choice
  2. Download the SuperSU file by Chainfire.
    -
  3. Reboot into recovery (adb reboot recovery or hold Power+VolDn, then select Recovery)
    -
  4. Flash the SuperSU file to your device.
    -
  5.  Reboot your device and an app which requires root to make sure you are properly rooted.
[NOTE] Some users have had issue with the root method, which should be expected since it is still in beta. Please stay tuned for updates to the root in the coming days.

[NOTE] Keep in mind that the example is based on a Nexus 4 but should work on other Nexus devices.

You can get access to the rest of the factory images and the driver binaries by following the source link.


source - Google | Android Police
Anonymous Web Developer

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