Help How to get 4.2 on Galaxy Nexus without rooting?

[mazzazhou]

onmpf

 

[jhawkkw]

Are you sure it's a Galaxy Nexus? To my knowledge it was only released on sprint and Verizon as well as unlocked gsm?
What's the model number of the phone?

 

[Tim K]

I have a Galaxy Nexus on 4.1.2. Unfortunately, I'm with Virgin Mobile who roll out updates sometimes more than a year late. Is there a way to update now without having to root? (I have no knowledge whatsoever of rooting) Any help would be appreciated thank you.

You must unlock the bootloader (which completely wipes the phone) and then flash a different build - a non-carrier managed build. Assuming you are outside the US, you'd want to flash the YAKJU build which gets updated directly from Google without carrier intervention.

Technically, I don't think it involves 'rooting', but unlocking the bootloader is just about the same. There is actually a program you can download (wugs toolkit) that can do it all, unlock, flash root, etc. Someone else will have to post a link but its pretty simple. You just install the toolkit on your computer, connect your phone and follow the instructions. It does all the work and leaves you with exactly what you want. You can choose to keep it unlocked, re-lock the bootloader, root it, or leave it un-rooted.

If you intend to do this, and many many many people on carrier specific GSM builds have, just remember that your phone gets completely wiped... as in, back to fresh out of the box. Make sure your contacts, calendars, music, etc. is all synced to the cloud. Your apps can be re-downloaded so that's not a biggie. I'd suggest going through the menu and making sure google backup is enabled and syncs up. You'll lose all your photos as well so back those up. Text messages and any non-cloud based emails will be lost too. There are apps that will let you backup your texts if that is something that matters to you. Also, you'll have to go through and re-setup your home screens and widgets unless you are using a home screen replacement app that allows you to backup your settings.

 

[jhawkkw]

But isn't Virgin Mobile owned by Sprint and thus a CDMA carrier? Or is there more than one Virgin Mobile?

If so, and the Sprint version was flashed to Virgin, then flashing the factory image to get to 4.2.1 will probably put it back to Sprint.

 

[Tim K]

But isn't Virgin Mobile owned by Sprint and thus a CDMA carrier? Or is there more than one Virgin Mobile?

If so, and the Sprint version was flashed to Virgin, then flashing the factory image to get to 4.2.1 will probably put it back to Sprint.

I assumed he was on Virgin mobile overseas, not in the US.

 

[jhawkkw]

I assumed he was on Virgin mobile overseas, not in the US.

Yeah, I'm not up to snuff with all the international carriers.