There’s no doubt about it. Google is currently baking its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich firmware for the Samsung Nexus S. We’ve also heard that an early build of the said update is currently being rolled out to Google employees for them to correct the firmware’s bugs and glitches.
Thus, we are quite surprised to know that a beta version of the said update has already been roaming around the web. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that this isn’t the official update and that you might be encountering a couple of issues. Let’s just say that your phone’s Face Unlock feature may not work or you will not be able to use your handset for Near Field Communication.
But if you’re too eager to taste the difference, the update will definitely give you the core functionalities of Google’s famed Ice Cream Sandwich OS. So go ahead and get your Samsung Nexus S ready for we will be teaching the steps on how to install the leaked Android 4.0 update to your handset.
Follow Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: See to it that your phone’s battery has been charged to at least 60 percent. This is to ensure that you won’t be able to experience some installation failures throughout the process.
Step 2: Check whether you have the Superuser app or ClockworkMod recovery installed. If not, download and install these apps to enable your phone’s root access.
Step 3: Click this link to download .zip file of the Android Ice Cream Sandwich firmware for Nexus S.
Step 4: Connect your smartphone to your PC using a USB cable then copy the .zip file to your computer’s storage.
Step 5: Restart your handset and enter to ClockworkMod recovery mode. You can do this by holding your phone’s Volume Up key while pressing the Power button.
Step 6: Go to the recovery mode menu then choose “Wipe Data / Factory Reset”.
Step 7: Select “Wipe Cache” then Select “Dalvik Cache”. This will clear your phone’s previous caches.
Step 8: After which choose “Install Zip from SD card” then press “Choose Zip from SD Card”. Locate the zip file that you have downloaded. Wait for a couple of minutes to complete the installation process.
Step 9: After the installation, go to the main menu by choosing the “++++ Go Back ++++” option. Then, choose “Reboot System Now”. This will reboot your phone to the Android 4.0 firmware.
Step 10: Turn off your phone then boot again to recovery mode. Perform the “Wipe Data / Factory Reset” and “Wipe Cache” for the second time. Reboot your handset.
This may take a couple of minutes or so but you will definitely notice that your Samsung Nexus S smartphone has finally been upgraded to Android 4.0 ICS.
I’d like to specify that this update does NOT work for UMTS devices.