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We've clearly got a little bias on the subject, but Android has a long and storied history filled with its own triumphs and pitfalls. It's been well over a decade now since that first HTC G1 landed, the inaugural Android smartphone, and things have changed drastically since then. Being "first" might make you think the G1 was the most influential Android phone — but was it, really?
In what is partly an experiment and partly a series, I've been using the Galaxy Nexus as my personal phone exclusively for the last week. It has been a nostalgic experience, as the Galaxy Nexus was the first (good) Android device that I used full-time. And while the sentimental tech-romantic in me would love to tell you all that it's been mostly fine — like my week using the Nexus 5 — I can't. It's actually been pretty rough.
CyanogenMod 13, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, first arrived in November 2015. It was soon switched to Android 6.0.1, and continued to be the main branch of CyanogenMod until version 14.1 was released one year later. After the CyanogenMod community re-organized into LineageOS, the distribution was renamed to LineageOS 13.
The Galaxy Nexus is nearly as old as the Nook Tablet that CyanogenMod resurrected a couple of days ago with CM13, but it won't be getting that fresh of a software update. It'll have to do with a slightly older version of Android, but any third-party development on this forgotten Nexus is a welcome change from the state that Google left it in.
Google announced last year that the venerable Galaxy Nexus would not be getting any of that sweet, sweet KitKat action. Well, not officially anyway. Owners were not pleased, but they couldn't properly flood the internet with complaints because their phones were already dead. There have been a few KitKat ROMs that work well enough, but now some developers have created a kernel and GPU driver combo that could keep this device chugging along through the L release.
It's that time of the month again, CyanogenMod ROM fans. In fact it's a bit past that time of the month, reportedly thanks to a heavy workload and the Labor Day weekend, but now that the CM11 monthly update is up to the M10 release, we won't hold it against the CyanogenMod Team. The biggest change to the M build is a brand new bug tracker app, which makes it easy for users to submit anonymized bug reports to CM along with a stacktrace whenever a system app crashes.
Typically Christmas day is a slow one for technology news, but apparently the good folks at the Android Open Kang Project have dragged their coding machines in front of the open fire. Today AOKP has posted the first nightly builds of Android 4.4.2, granting deliciously fresh custom ROMs to all the good little girls and boys. And all the bad ones too, I suppose.
Did you know it's possible to unlock your Nexus 5 bootloader without wiping user data? If your device has already been rooted and relocked for optimal security, then unlocking is just a button tap away thanks to the latest update to BootUnlocker. Support for Google's latest flagship phone was just added with an update to version 1.4 of the app from XDA member segv11. Sadly, both generations of the Nexus 7 from ASUS remain unsupported.
Google kicked off the Nexus program back in early 2010 with the Nexus One. It was a fine phone for the time, but it's vastly different than the most recent iterations of the Nexus flagship. That's illustrated quite well by this quick GIF.
Update: Here's an official Google Support answer stating the GNex will indeed be stuck in 4.3-land for eternity.
Sprint Galaxy Nexus owners, you can put down those pitchforks. Your Android 4.3 update is finally coming. Sure, it's arriving just in time for Android 4.4, but hey, it's not like anyone promised that your updates would be timely. Oh, they did? Well, it gets worse. The update is rolling out in stages over a 10 - 21 day period, and device selection is random. Some of you may still have close to a month to go.
Google has just posted updated factory images and driver binaries for the Nexus 7 (2013 and 2012), Nexus 4, Nexus 10, and Galaxy Nexus (yakju / takju variants) based on the new Android 4.3 bugfix builds JWR66Y and JSS15Q (2013 Nexus 7 only). The new builds follow OTA updates that have been rolling out over the last couple of days.
Yesterday T-Mobile rolled out a relatively small OTA for the Nexus 4 bringing about a set of security improvements. As it turns out, the latest Nexus handset isn't the only one receiving the update. The Galaxy Nexus is also getting the JWR66Y firmware, and there's a manual update available for those of you who just can't bear the wait. This one is for the yakju variant of the phone, those sold through retail channels other than Google Play.
If there is one thing we all eventually rely on with mobile devices, it's having a sturdy Wi-Fi connection. Whether it's because of a low data cap, you live or work somewhere with a weak cell signal, or like me, the local cellular technology is stuck in the stone age, you probably have a few wireless networks saved on your phone or tablet. While you probably take it for granted that your devices will automatically connect to these networks when they are in range, some people are finding that feature hasn't been working as expected since upgrading to Android 4.3.
Note: This is an adaptation of my Nexus 4 update/root post, so it has some duplicate content, but all the instructions and images are specific to the Galaxy Nexus.
Android 4.3 factory images and driver binaries for most recent Nexus devices have just been published on the Google Developers site, and chances are if you've got a new-ish Nexus, the image you're looking for is there. The Nexus 10, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi and mobile data), and Galaxy Nexus (takju / yakju variants) all have factory image downloads available right now, here.
Google officially unveiled the newest version of Android this morning – Android 4.3 Jelly Bean – and of course the first question is when can I have it?! Good news for current Nexus owners: it's coming today. The current edition Nexuses – 10, 7, and 4 – along with the Galaxy Nexus (GSM is assumed here), will all begin getting the update as of today.
If you've been waiting for an official means of recovering your Verizon or Sprint Galaxy Nexus should an emergency arise, Google's just fulfilled that need. The factory images for both devices – 4.2.2 (JDQ39) for the Verizon variant and 4.2.1 (GA02) for Sprint's – just hit the "Factory Images for Nexus Devices" download page.
Oh, Verizon. The company we all love to hate (aside from AT&T). You push updates ridiculously late all the time, have to Droidify every handset that comes your way, and charge ridiculously high prices. Still, we just can't stay away. It's the LTE – you know that, right? We love the LTE coverage, so we deal with all the crap.