In addition to launching the new Nexus devices today, including the Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and 32GB Nexus 7 flavors, Google has also started rolling out Android 4.2 updates for some of the existing, “older,” Nexus smartphones and tablets. Moreover, the company has also pushed out Android 4.2 to AOSP, which means developers can already tinker with it.
The news comes from Google’s Jean-Baptiste-Queru, who posted on the Android Building Google Group the following message:
Good news everyone!
-The source code for 4.2 is being pushed to AOSP right now. Look for it under the name “android-4.2_r1″ once the replication completes. The matching development branch (for CTS contributions) is jb-mr1-dev, and all the changes are merged into the master branch where platform contributions are accepted.
-Nexus 10 is now the best choice for AOSP work on 4.2. Everything except the GPU code is Open Source, and the only proprietary binaries besides the GPU libraries are firmware files that get loaded into the various peripheral chips. No flagship device so far has been so open, and no flagship device so far has had that level of AOSP support at launch.
-Nexus 7 3G isn’t supported. We haven’t been able to license the GSM stack for AOSP yet, and without the GSM stack this device doesn’t do more than a plain Nexus 7.
-If AOSP starts pointing toward Nexus 4, you are having a bad problem, and you will not go to space today (i.e.: there is nothing in AOSP related to Nexus 4).
-Factory images for the “takju” Galaxy Nexus as well as Nexus 7 (both variants), Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 are available at https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
-Proprietary binaries to run AOSP on Galaxy Nexus (maguro, toro and toroplus), Nexus 7 (grouper) and Nexus 10 (manta) are available at
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers-There is no support for 4.2 on Nexus S and Xoom. Those devices should continue using 4.1.2.
JBQ
PS: don’t reply to this thread if you have specific questions. Start new threads instead.
PPS: no ETAs for OTAs.
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Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru
Technical Lead, Android Open Source Project, Google.Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private will likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further warning.
Motorola Xoom and Nexus S won’t get Android 4.2
According to the message above, the Motorola Xoom and Nexus S won’t be upgraded to Android 4.2, which is certainly strange considering that they have received the Jelly Bean update already (up to Android 4.1.2). Android users will not be happy to hear that Google decided to stop Android updates for that devices, especially if they don’t want to upgrade to a new Nexus / Android device this year. Here’s what “JBQ” had to briefly say when questioned about it:
I can’t comment about the future of Nexus S and Xoom, sorry.
Sure, there’s always a chance that things may change in the future, but for now it looks like Xoom and Nexus S owners will have to make do with Android 4.1.2. At least officially, because unofficially devs will find ways to bring Android 4.2 features to these “old” devices.
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