Galaxy Nexus

Hardware

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_nexus_i9250-4219.php

• TI OMAP 4460 CPU 1.2 GHz dual core
• 1 GB RAM
• 16 GB flash
• 5MP camera
• Mini SIM card
• Bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

History

• 2014-Dec-23 CyanogenMod 11 (aka Kitkat) broke down and installed Google Apps package too
• 2013-Sept-07 Tried Ubuntu Touch on the phone. Tried it back in June on the Nexus 7
• Used to have Android 4.3 on it

Why I am not fond of the Android set up

I have had it long enough to realize

1. I want complete control over the phone. I don't feel like I own it.
2. I would like to be able to use the GPS without Google tracking me.
3. I would like to be able to develop applications that run on both my desktop and my phone (and my tablet)
4. I have lots of Linux knowledge I would like to be able to use

Switching to Ubuntu

I already tried putting Ubuntu on the Nexus 7 in February, when it was first announced. It did not work well enough to keep.

Ubuntu is trying to build interest in an Ubuntu tablet. One of the main reasons to install Ubuntu on a Nexus is to be able to preview what a Ubuntu Tablet will be like.

Ubuntu Tablet Install

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
sudo apt-get upgrade

Make a backup

adb backup -apk -shared -all 

Download and save a copy of the stock image from Google.

https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#yakju

Follow the unlock procedure

fastboot oem unlock

adb devices
List of devices attached 
014E23850C018018	device

phablet-flash cdimage-touch -b

INFO:phablet-flash:Device detected as maguro
INFO:phablet-flash:Download directory set to /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1
INFO:phablet-flash:Download directory set to /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1
INFO:urllib3.connectionpool:Starting new HTTP connection (1): cdimage.ubuntu.com
INFO:phablet-flash:Download not required
INFO:phablet-flash:Restarting device... wait
INFO:phablet-flash:Restarting device... wait complete
WARNING:phablet-flash:Device needs to be unlocked for the following to work
INFO:phablet-flash:Flashing system to /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1/saucy-preinstalled-system-armel+maguro.img
< waiting for device >
erasing 'system'...
OKAY [  0.235s]
sending 'system' (60695 KB)...
OKAY [  6.882s]
writing 'system'...
OKAY [ 12.267s]
finished. total time: 19.384s
INFO:phablet-flash:Flashing boot to /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1/saucy-preinstalled-boot-armhf+maguro.img
sending 'boot' (6656 KB)...
OKAY [  0.786s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [  0.561s]
finished. total time: 1.348s
INFO:phablet-flash:Flashing recovery to /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1/saucy-preinstalled-recovery-armel+maguro.img
sending 'recovery' (6660 KB)...
OKAY [  0.780s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.719s]
finished. total time: 1.499s
INFO:phablet-flash:Booting /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1/saucy-preinstalled-recovery-armel+maguro.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.776s]
booting...
OKAY [  0.405s]
finished. total time: 1.181s
INFO:phablet-flash:Clearing /data and /cache
INFO:phablet-flash:Pushing /home/bwilson/Desktop/phablet-flash/ubuntu-touch/20130905.1/saucy-preinstalled-touch-armhf.zip to /sdcard/autodeploy.zip
5763 KB/s (376615989 bytes in 63.815s)
INFO:phablet-flash:Deploying Ubuntu
INFO:phablet-flash:Restarting device... wait
INFO:phablet-flash:Restarting device... wait complete
INFO:phablet-flash:Once completed the device should reboot into Ubuntu

Is Ubuntu Touch ready to use now??

07-Sep-13 It does appear to work. I don't have a SIM in the phone right now, so I can't try making calls yet.

I need applications. Specifically I want a good GPS app.

What is included

• Gallery
• Phone (Dialer, SMS, Address Book)
• Camera
• Browser
• Media Player
• Notepad
• Music app
• Calculator
• Weather app

Those are the apps. But seeing as it's running Linux I should be able to port programs to it, right? What does that take???

They obviously need apps so it's time put on the Ubuntu Touch developer hat.

CyanogenMod

23-Dec-2014

Still tired of having Google control my phone.

I should see if Ubuntu Touch is still even out there. Today it's going to be CyanogenMod because I have already got it on the Nexus 7 and it's fine.

Make a backup with ADB -- remember to install Android SDK and platform-tools and to allow debug from USB on the phone

~/Library/android/platform-tools/adb backup -apk -shared -all -f galaxy_backup.ab

Then unpack the backup to confirm it's actually usable

java -jar ./abe.jar unpack galaxy_backup.ab galaxy_backup.tar
tar tvf galaxy_backup.tar

Now that I am confident that I can repair the damage done, or at least I can look at the files that used to on the phone, I can go ahead with CyanogenMod installer.