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Phones Nexus 4 owners/discussion thread.

Just wanted to say it sucked for Google to remove the Nexus 4 factory image files for downloading back in December, without ever making them available again, or otherwise releasing an update.

You can easily grab stock ROM images for just about every other Nexus device ever made. But not the Nexus 4. Why, Google? It can't be because of the FCC and LTE nonsense since shipping Nexus 4's still have the ROM that allows it.

I might not like iTunes but at least it is a lifeboat should you ever need to do a restore. Google really needs to provide something similar that does not require jumping through hoops. IMHO, YMMV, etc. Rant over about that lol.

Fortunately I found a mirror that had the images. So if anyone else wants to wipe the slate and start new here is the mirror:
http://www.randomphantasmagoria.com/firmware/nexus-4/occam/

I had done a complete wipe using TWRP and it came back to life OK. But all my data was still on the device and at that point I just wanted to start clean. So I backed up everything and flashed the factory rom.

I re-flashed 4.2 as it was what I had when I got my N4. It immediately notified me of the 4.2.1 update which I applied.

I had tried to flash directly to 4.2.1 but I could not get system.img to flash. Maybe there was a problem during unarchiving... I don't know. But 4.2 worked and I have had enough of this for one day lol.

OK I will eat some crow now and say it IS nice that on Android there is none of that firmware signing crap that Apple pulls. Updated to iOS 6 and don't like it a month later? Sucks to be you because there is no going back.



Michael
 
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Allenbf said:
Hey! Another Tampanite. Or Tampanian, as you said :)

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the plunge and get a N4 to try out. Like you/your wife, my wife will say I have a problem - especially since I bashed Android for quite awhile. :rolleyes:

I haven't considered the Note 2. I thought about an GS3, just to get the experience of Jelly Bean, but I prefer a vanilla experience, like you said. I want pure Jelly Bean to try out. Thought about the Nexus 7 but as I want to try NFC, that won't work. Can you imagine me trying to use a tablet at 7-11?

:D
Click to expand...

Is there a club for those of us whose wives think we're utterly ridiculous for wanting to own "redundant" devices? I'd like to join :D
 
Tinmania said:
Well it looks like my Nexus 4 is going to need a factory reset. It will not go past Starting Apps. Ugh.

Interesting... When I did the factory reset and signed in to my N4 again there were Google Play updates. To my surprise it is downloading all of my apps that I got through the play store. That is pretty cool. I thought we needed an app or something to backup and restore installed apps.


Michael
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about that. Did you get things sorted?
 
Tinmania said:
I had tried to flash directly to 4.2.1 but I could not get system.img to flash. Maybe there was a problem during unarchiving... I don't know. But 4.2 worked and I have had enough of this for one day lol.

Michael
Click to expand...

I also had this problem with trying to flash from my Mac. I resolved the issue by using a Windows computer to flash that particular file. It was a massive pain though due to having to Install drivers and then trying to get them to work.
 
Here's a great widget made by DvTonder from the CyanogenMod team. You can use it on your home screen or lock screen and even on stock unrooted ROM. It has a section for the calendar under the weather but I haven't shown that for privacy reasons :p

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2090012

2013-01-10 20.04.38.png
 
3bs said:
Here's a great widget made by DvTonder from the CyanogenMod team. You can use it on your home screen or lock screen and even on stock unrooted ROM. It has a section for the calendar under the weather but I haven't shown that for privacy reasons :p

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2090012

View attachment 389334
Click to expand...

Installed! Thanks for sharing. It's very cool really. Nice and simplistic which is what I like.

I do have one question tho, every time I press the power button it asks for my PIN/Password straight away. Is there a way I can stop that so I can see my upcoming calendar appointments without dragging the PIN/Password entry item out the way?
 
Chris.L said:
Installed! Thanks for sharing. It's very cool really. Nice and simplistic which is what I like.

I do have one question tho, every time I press the power button it asks for my PIN/Password straight away. Is there a way I can stop that so I can see my upcoming calendar appointments without dragging the PIN/Password entry item out the way?
Click to expand...

Yes there are 2 ways that I know of but both require you be rooted and one requires you have a custom ROM.

a) Install CM 10.1 ROM or AOKP. They have a feature that maximizes even the first lock screen by default so you have to actually minimize the widget to unlock the phone. I don't know if other ROMs have incorporated this too but these are the 2 I tried.

b) Stay on stock ROM but use a modified email + exchange apk's so that you don't need to use a pin/password even if your college/company required you to. I'm using a modified apk for my college email because I hate having any lock screen but the slide one.

When you're rooted you can aslo change the DPI of your phone and by doing that you'll get the time + weather without maximizing like in my screenshot. I've changed my DPI from 320 (default) to 290. Maybe if I made it even smaller it would show the calendar without maximizing.

Edit: see screenshot for the option in the CM ROM. Don't the theme fool you I'm on a Nexus 4 :p

2013-01-10 22.26.58.png
 
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3bs said:
Yes there are 2 ways that I know of but both require you be rooted and one requires you have a custom ROM.

a) Install CM 10.1 ROM or AOKP. They have a feature that maximizes even the first lock screen by default so you have to actually minimize the widget to unlock the phone. I don't know if other ROMs have incorporated this too but these are the 2 I tried.

b) Stay on stock ROM but use a modified email + exchange apk's so that you don't need to use a pin/password even if your college/company required you to. I'm using a modified apk for my college email because I hate having any lock screen but the slide one.

When you're rooted you can aslo change the DPI of your phone and by doing that you'll get the time + weather without maximizing like in my screenshot. I've changed my DPI from 320 (default) to 290. Maybe if I made it even smaller it would show the calendar without maximizing.

Edit: see screenshot for the option in the CM ROM. Don't the theme fool you I'm on a Nexus 4 :p

View attachment 389355
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I am stock and rooted. The pass code is through choice as I'm funny about my own data security:)

Might start looking at custom ROMs now :D
 
3bs said:
Sorry to hear about that. Did you get things sorted?
Click to expand...
Yes. I restored back with the factory images and now know a lot more how all that works.

I think it was the faux kernel I was running when I first got locked out that did it. That or updating SuperSU.

But it was worth the learning experience for sure.




Michael

----------
Chris.L said:
I also had this problem with trying to flash from my Mac. I resolved the issue by using a Windows computer to flash that particular file. It was a massive pain though due to having to Install drivers and then trying to get them to work.
Click to expand...

Yea that is what I ended up doing too. Well, by that time I just wanted to get it running ASAP so I used the nexus 4 toolkit from xda on my windows machine. Fortunately that will install the windows drivers.

I'm glad I didn't use the toolkit at first though, as I wouldn't have understood what it was doing had I not done it manually first.




Michael
 
3bs said:
AOKP, PA and CM10.1 are a good place to start IMO.
Click to expand...

AOKP and CM10.1 are seem to be popular so will start with those. Thanks

Tinmania said:
Yea that is what I ended up doing too. Well, by that time I just wanted to get it running ASAP so I used the nexus 4 toolkit from xda on my windows machine. Fortunately that will install the windows drivers.

I'm glad I didn't use the toolkit at first though, as I wouldn't have understood what it was doing had I not done it manually first.

Michael
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I ended up doing. I wouldn't be surprised if we found the same thread on XDA listing that as the fix.

I think I had driver issues as I was using Windows 8
 
Tinmania said:
Good lord I love it.




Michael
Click to expand...

It's out! You have to try it, it's so cool :D

The way I have it set up is I can use the pie controls and still have the status bar by going to Settings > Hybrid settings > swipe right > Interface > Workspace > change nav bar size to 0%. Pie controls is under Settings > toolbars. Make sure to turn it on before turning off the nav bar :p

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2020336

2013-01-15 00.04.13.png
 
3bs said:
It's out! You have to try it, it's so cool :D

The way I have it set up is I can use the pie controls and still have the status bar by going to Settings > Hybrid settings > swipe right > Interface > Workspace > change nav bar size to 0%. Pie controls is under Settings > toolbars. Make sure to turn it on before turning off the nav bar :p

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2020336

View attachment 390332
Click to expand...

Getting this.

Hot damn Google should've had this from the start!

Anything like that for the Nexus 7?
 
3bs said:
Yep :D

I've had Paranoid Android on my Nexus 7 ever since I got it. You can get an actual tablet UI on it which makes more sense since it's a tablet.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1800268
Click to expand...

Well I finally got it on here! Now I have a few questions. How did you get the status bar to show with the "pie" controls? That's my only problem so far! I'm loving the nav/status bar per app themeing. Amazing!
 

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Orange Furball said:
Well I finally got it on here! Now I have a few questions. How did you get the status bar to show with the "pie" controls? That's my only problem so far! I'm loving the nav/status bar per app themeing. Amazing!
Click to expand...

I actually went back to CM10.1 for now because I was getting bad battery life and didn't wanna have to mess with any kernels.

Go to settings > hybrid settings > swipe right from edge of screen> interface > workmode > set nav bar to 0%

Make sure the pie controls work before you do that because if they don't I don't know how else you're going to navigate :p

AOKP are working on something similar now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itQ3ZGE6QQg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
3bs said:
I actually went back to CM10.1 for now because I was getting bad battery life and didn't wanna have to mess with any kernels.

Go to settings > hybrid settings > swipe right from edge of screen> interface > workmode > set nav bar to 0%

Make sure the pie controls work before you do that because if they don't I don't know how else you're going to navigate :p

AOKP are working on something similar now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itQ3ZGE6QQg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Click to expand...

I don't see it :(

I hope CM10.1 gets either a flashable mod or something coded into it for the navigation buttons. I miss CM. But I will run this ROM for a week or two
 
Orange Furball said:
I don't see it :(

I hope CM10.1 gets either a flashable mod or something coded into it for the navigation buttons. I miss CM. But I will run this ROM for a week or two
Click to expand...

Are you sure you followed the steps? I'm not on PA anymore so I can't go back to check and take screenshots but I'm pretty sure that's how you do it. It could be that I have more features because I bought their Play Store app. I guess you can try that and get a refund if not?

One thing I hated about PA which I thought I actually would like is how the recent apps button changed to a kill all button when you're looking at the recent apps. It definitely looks better than the way it's implemented in other ROMs but I kept killing all my apps by mistake because I'm just used to hitting the recent apps button twice at the home screen (to see what's open then to close the recent apps).
 
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