Only last night did we share the news that the OTA (over the air) update files for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 were available, albeit unofficially, to bring your beloved older Nexus devices up to date with Android 4.4 KitKat.
Well this morning, Google Developers has delivered us another treat, putting up the factory restore images for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (2012 and 2013 models). If you’ve previously modified the software running on your Nexus 4 or 7 such that an OTA update won’t apply, you can now download the factory image and restore your device to the way Google intended it.
In our experience, it’s always handy to have these images downloaded and ready to use if you own a Nexus device and are into modifying it, as it gives you a quick and easy way to return things to a working state, almost regardless of how badly you might manage to mess up your handset.
Update: It has been pointed out that there are actually Nexus 10 KitKat images available too, they’re just not linked from the top of the factory images page. You can find them here. Thanks Matt!
I have a Nexus 7 (2013) with LTE. They seem to have not updated this OTA yet (only the WiFi model). I can’t install a factory image without losing everything can I?
Hanging out to get some KitKat goodness.
OTA updates are always staggered and there’s usually a healthy window. I’d rather wait for it myself. Say hi to Vin Diesel for me.
LOL.
Any known ways to get it before your turn?
HA! Typical. Only last night went through the painful task of flashing 4.3 (JWR66Y) on my N7/12 from CM10.2 to upgrade to 4.4 (KRT16O)!
And of course today they release the factory image.
It seems to be running faster but that could be because of the complete bootloader/recovery/system/userdata wipe!
I download the image it different to the older factory images. I extract the Tar and it just extracts some big unknown file???
Now I can look forward to broken (Microsoft) exchange services destroying my battery like all the n5 owners I work with!
Glad I bought the LG G2 instead, then.
So far so good, working great on my n4.
I for one thank our Google overlords.
Both Nexus 7s with mobile data are there too – awesome!