Android 4.3 leaks out for the Nexus 4, tells a story of chance

Ever wondered what it would be like to win the lottery? Well, the story of Google+ user Jeff Williams is just like that, with the exception of, you know, the money. But it did make a lot of people over at the XDA Developers boards very happy. And happiness trumps money. Mostly.

Anyhow, in a tale of chance, Jeff bought a Nexus 4 off Craigslist and lo and behold – a few weeks into his purchase, he noticed that his phone was actually running Android 4.3, because, well – it used to belong to a Googler, apparently. The rest is history – in a gesture to be remembered by the Android developer community, Jeff stayed up all night and, with the assistance of people over IRC, learned how to get a system dump on Android that would prove his screenshot wasn't a hoax. It turns out that it isn't, and developers have confirmed so. Moreover, a flashable Android 4.3 ROM for the Nexus 4 is now available on the XDA boards, though without a working radio or a bootloader (yet).

Just like an early build of Android 4.3 for the Google Play Edition version of the Galaxy S4 we showed you a few weeks ago, there's really nothing of note to report – most of the tweaks are under the hood. The summary below lists a few things we expect to come once the official 4.3 build from Google is released (hopefully in a week from now): 

• An enhanced camera interface,
• A deeper functionality to Notifications,
• Tweaks to the way apps and widgets are sorted

To name a few. If you must have proof, check the video of an XDA user who managed to flash the new ROM on his Nexus 4.



source: Jeff Williams (G+), via XDA Developers