They enable users to flash their phones to factory defaults

Mar 30, 2012 06:55 GMT  ·  By

Following the release of Android 4.0.4 AOSP

code for the GSM flavor of Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus only a few days ago, Google has also made available for download the full OS images for these devices.

Through these, compatible devices can be restored back to stock, if anything went wrong while you were installing something else on them.

One thing that should be noted right from the start is that you will wipe your devices clean when installing these images. The phone will be brought to a factory default state.

“We've just made the factory image for Galaxy Nexus GSM/HSPA+ available for download,” Google’s Jean-Baptiste Queru notes in a post on Google Groups. “This file, once unarchived, contains the bootloader, baseband, and the rest of the system.”

These factory images are recommended mainly for those who managed to break their devices, or even brick them. Of course, users can also install these files to get their phones up to Android 4.0.4 before Google makes the OS officially available for them.

GSM Nexus S (soju) owners should also note that the factory image might not work on all of their devices. Due to differences in radios, which are flashed as well, things might end up badly.

The said factory images are available today for download from Google’s website. They are meant for GSM/HSPA+ model (“yakju” / “maguro”) and for GSM Nexus S (worldwide version - "soju").

To install these, users will have to download the archives on their computers and unzip them in a folder on the hard disk. They also need to install the Android SDK on their computer, along with the fastboot application (it should be un-archived in the same folder as the unzipped factory image).

“You'll need to have fastboot in your path, and to have the device in fastboot mode before you can use it (either "adb reboot bootloader", or press-and-hold both volume-up and volume-down then press-and-hold power),” Jean-Baptiste Queru continues.

“For convenience, a flash-all.sh script is provided as well, which restores the entire phone to its factory state.

“If you're only flashing some of the images, I strongly recommend flashing things in the same order as flash-all.sh. Specifically, flash the bootloader before the radio, and reboot after flashing the bootloader or the radio.”

Specific details on the process of installing a factory image on Galaxy Nexus can be found on Android To Be. Note that this is not simple and that it would be more convenient to wait for the official update to be delivered to you.