Update Samsung Galaxy Nexus To Android 5.1.1 Lollipop With Unofficial CM 12.1 ROM

Update Galaxy Nexus to Android Lollipop (5.1.1) unofficially. The four years old Samsung Galaxy Nexus can now taste the amazing Android OS latest version features wrapped in one single package called Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Samsung has taken down all the firmware update supports for the device so has Google. So do not expect the official Lollipop will come to the phone. It is the last Nexus partnership the Korean company made with the Google.

Advertisements.

So the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop I am talking about is coming from the third party developer that's thinking the fate of probably hundred thousands of the phone users that was powered with Android ICS when it's first launched. XDA developers are still there making the best efforts to deliver the probably impossible support for the old devices to taste the most sophisticated and powerful Android version like Lollipop.

A senior member namely Ziyan from XDA forum has dedicated his time to come up with an unofficial CyanogenMod 12.1 ROM to increase the power of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Android 5.1.1 software. And the ROM is currently in Beta stage, bugs can be expected though. But since Ziyan is an active developer so we can expect more updates taking a lot of improvements and stability in the future.

A couple of bugs reported.

• No animation when mode charging is OFF.
• A green line appears on the edge of the video you recorded.

I think the above two are not significant factors to disregard the ROM. You can live without them. Right?

Considering the most of other apps are reported to work just fine. So there is no reason of not giving it a try and then decide whether you want to use is as a daily driver of yours.

Prerequisites.

• Unofficial CM12.1 ROM is the result of a third party developer, neither Google nor Samsung has anything to do with it.
• Since this is a custom ROM built not by Samsung, thus Samsung KIES will stop detecting your device once it's flashed.
• Your Samsung Galaxy Nexus's bootloader should already in unlocked stage for flashing the ROM.
• Your Galaxy Nexus has already has a custom recovery running, you can use either CWM or TWRP recovery, the choice is yours.
• Do not forget to firstly enable USB Debugging mode of Samsung Galaxy Nexus of yours.
• Have a Windows based PC with a USB drivers installed and a USB cable.
• Charge your phone's battery first if it's low.
• The ROM developer didn't include the Gapps, therefore we will need to install it separately.
• Do not flash this modified ROM unless your phone is Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

This is not a stock firmware, but it's a custom ROM and it's still in Beta stage, thus flash it with all the risks should be yours to hold for anything you dislike that might happen during or after flashing it.

Tutorials to update Samsung Galaxy Nexus to Android Lollipop (5.1.1) using the CM 12.1 Build ROM (Unofficial)

Files needed for the installations. Download them to your PC, do not extract them.

• Download the zip file of the CM12.1 ROM from here
• Download Gapps from CyanogenMod site.

Remember, do not unzip the ROM and the Gapps zip files you've downloaded to your computer.

Advertisements.

Instructions.

1. Now transfer all the zip files you downloaded to your computer to your Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Place the zip files into your root folder in internal storage.
2. Once all the zip files transferred you can disconnect your Samsung Galaxy Nexus from PC.
3. Now shut down your phone, then boot into the recovery mode.
4. Inside the recovery, you must perform a several cleaning. Firstly perform the Wipe Data/Factory Reset.
   
   
5. Now you need to also perform the Wipe Cache Partition, afterward go to Advanced menu then perform the Wipe Dalvik Cache. Also perform wipe system and data partitions as well.
   
   
   
   
   
6. When all done. It's time to install the zip files of the ROM. Back to main menu then choose the Install Zip From SD Card followed with choosing the Choose Zip From SD Card then find the zip files you placed on root folder earlier.
   
   
   
   
   
7. When done, do the similar action to install the Gapps zip file.
8. You can now use *****Go Back***** option then use the Reboot System Now to reboot your Samsng Galaxy Nexus phone.
   
   
9. The rebooting process will take place. Just wait til it's fully loaded all the files. Then pass the booting process. When your phone is on again. Check it via About phone. To see what's ROM powering it now.

Congratulations my friend because you just updated your Samsung Galaxy Nexus to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop firmware. You should be happy now. And tell your friends about this. See you again in the next posts of Install Android ROM blog.