With all the development going on with the Samsung Galaxy S III, it’s hard to believe that the phone hasn’t actually been released yet. Thus far, the device has been rooted, its launcher was ported to the Galaxy S II, and it even brought some controversy over the extraction and modification of S Voice. However, if you think the Galaxy S III stuff is over, you are gravely mistaken, as the porting fun has just begun.

Now, the Galaxy S III goods are hitting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the form of a giant add-on pack that gives users a bunch of SGS III stuff all at once. XDA Senior Member madphone, along with a long list of helpers, has released the mod pack, which includes everything from the SGS III launcher to themed UI elements. The mod pack also brings a few Galaxy S III applications including—get your pitchforks ready—S Voice. The add-on pack is reportedly only compatible with CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies. However, it seems to work on all recent nighties, so it doesn’t really matter which day you’re on.

To get started, head on over to the original thread and Touchwiz-ify your Nexus.

Those out there who have been following the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have no doubt noticed that Sprint has added a new member to the Galaxy Nexus family, and with that comes a lot of work for developers. Popular ROMs, kernels, tools, and mods from the older Galaxy Nexus devices will slowly make their way over to the Sprint variant. Thankfully for Sprint GNex users, one of the best tool kits out there is already working.

XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer mskip has made the latest version of his Galaxy Nexus Toolkit compatible with the the Sprint phone, and thus makes it compatible with every version of the device. For those who have forgotten, mskip’s allows users to do pretty much everything—from one-click root and unroot to unlocking and relocking the bootloader, flashing a recovery, and even more advanced options like dumping logcats and bug reports to your PC. It really is a remarkable tool, and a must have for any Galaxy Nexus user.

Download links, a full feature list, and more can be found in the original thread.

Pretty much anyone who spends enough time on XDA will eventually run into one of XDA Recognized Contributor qbking77′s videos. A member of the Android Creative Syndicate, qbking77 has become sort of an unofficial the YouTube guru for XDA, posting videos on a variety of topics for a number of devices. Subjects vary from ROM reviews, guides on flashing various ROMs, root methods, and the list goes on. Qbking77, who has over 600 videos to date, now brings Sprint Galaxy Nexus owners some video love.

With the recent release of the Galaxy Nexus on the “Now Network,” Sprint users on XDA have been plummeted into an already spirited development culture surrounding the newest Nexus. With that, users have had to create their own niche in the forums with their own ROMs and tweaks. And with so many variants, it can be tough to find the information you’re looking for.

This is what qbking77 aims to fix with his all-in-one guide for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus. Instead of posting text tutorials, qbking77 has put together 10 didactic videos for the newest Nexus owners. The videos cover all the basics, such as installing the Android SDK and device drivers on your computer. From there, each video takes you through the next step in the process, including unlocking the bootloader, rooting the phone, how to unroot the phone, and a number of other fun topics.

For all the videos, hit up the original thread and start really playing with your Nexus.

Most users of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have heard of the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit. With a variety of features like auto-installation of Samsung drivers, and backing up and restoring data down to even dumping logs to your desktop, the Toolkit brings a lot of functionality and help to users. With the Toolkit at version 6.0 now, the Toolkit has donned many additional features thanks to the work of XDA Recognized Developer and Senior Moderator mskip.

With the update, mskip has also spun off one part of the toolkit for standalone use. Instead of dealing with computer to phone communication and functionality, the Phone Mods Section deals specifically with features, settings and modifications of just the Galaxy Nexus itself.

This is all part of the Galaxy Nexus ToolKit but I have made a new Thread for people who may not have noticed it, people who didnt need the ToolKit but may find some of the Mods useful or just people who want to talk about the Phone Mods specifically.

FUNCTIONS OF THE PHONE MODS SECTION V1.6 [GSM + LTE][23RD APRIL 2012]

• Change the Screen Density (DPI)
• CWM Recovery, Only 1 No in the Confirmation Screen
• Camera Sounds (Disable/Enable Camera Shutter, Video Camera Shutter, Focus)
• Camera Enhancements (Increase Video Bitrate, Sound Bitrate, Photo Quality)
• Change WiFi Scan Interval (Time between scanning for new Wifi Access Points)
• Startup Boot Animation Screen (Disable/Enable which affects Boot Time)
• Screen Colour Control (Change Gamma Offset and Colour Multiplier)

As noted in the instructions, users will have to have an insecure boot image in order to use most of these modifications. Worry not, however, as it’s part of the original Toolkit, so it’s a matter of switching over a couple of menus to get started.

For more information on the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit and its new Phones Mod spin off, you can hit up the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit thread or the Phone Mods thread.

Last week, we began a contest for some custom, laser-etched backplate for the Galaxy Nexus made by the fine folks at  GRUVER concepts. As you may remember, we said that winners would be chosen based on originality, humor, and ingenuity. It is now one week later, and the contest is now over. While we didn’t quite have “over 9000” entries, we had well over 100, many of which were indeed quite frightening.

As you can imagine, we really enjoyed hearing your most chilling tales of device hackery. And as hard as it may be to pick just twenty winners, we will do our best to highlight the most interesting and unique responses we received—and reward them accordingly. If you’re one of the lucky winners, expect a PM from me in the coming days asking for your shipping information.

CDMA / LTE Galaxy Nexus Winners

GSM Galaxy Nexus Winners

• darkamikaze for his rythmic ode to flashing. After all, who can argue with, “Yank goes the USB and the phone does die?”
• morrislee
• androo45 because even those who aren’t tech savvy can help us out from time to time
• jonnyg1097
• killster because he admits to and has reformed from his former iToy ways in true XDA fashion
• HtmdroidGN and how he quickly learned the differences between development work meant for the LTE and GSM Galaxy Nexus models
• cocchiararo because we’ve all been there before—trying to help a friend (or boss), only to run into major issues
• petsasj for his epic tale of traveling flashing woes
• Memnoch30 for dealing with the HTC Kaiser and fixing it with FrankenKaiser by Senior Moderator GSLEON3
• And finally, Elite Recognized Developer AdamOutler who shows us that if at first you brick, simply write tools to fix it

Honorable Mention These people forgot to write down their flavor Galaxy Nexus, and thus cannot win the backplate, but still came up with awesome tales that deserve some kind of XDAppreciation… in the form of an XDA-Developers T-Shirt!

• Kryptonian_Knight because when his wife was in labor, he was just as concerned about flashing his Droid Charge
• Zoidpilot because at some point, we all used to think that device hacking was “some alien language.”
• chadouming because he turned his flashing woes into a learning experience for all

Thank you to everyone who entered. Your stories were all amazing reads, and truly demonstrated the power and awesomeness of the XDA community.

Those of you who didn’t win, but still wish to purchase a custom, laser-etched backplate can visit the website above or email customdesigns@gruverconcepts.com to get the ball rolling. Don’t forget to use the coupon code XDAFTW for 10% off.

Now get back to flashing!

While there are ways to SIM unlock the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it is a bit harder to keep it unlocked when you change ROMs or perform a factory reset. There’s terminal emulator stuff you’d have to do and applications to install every time. While the workaround is perfectly acceptable for most, for others it’s permanent SIM unlock or nothing. XDA Forum Member jup007 has been working on a method to accomplish this with limited success. It is nowhere close to stable yet, and as jup007 says:

This is just a theory in progress. I don’t recommend anybody to try this, since it’s only been tested on my phone. Above all, backup. And as allways, I am not responsible for anything, I don’t even exist, etc…

But it can only be proven by others testing it. If you are brave (or crazy), please provide feedback. This theory can only be proved/disproved if we know that it works and limitations.

So before giving it a shot, be sure that you know what you’re doing, are aware of the risk and understand that you hold responsibility. The method is long and requires many commands to be carried out in shell. There are a few for whom the process has worked, including XDA Elite Recognized Developer netarchy. However, the process is not by any means stable, so keep checking back for updates if you’d rather wait.

More information can be found in the original thread.

It would be both a great thing and a terrible thing if software were perfect out of the box. It would be great because people would stop complaining. However, it would be terrible because people would stop creating. This is the case for Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners who have been suffering a horizontal gradient banding in their settings for quite some time. For anyone that’s had enough of this bug, XDA Senior Member arzbhatia has a fix for you.

The fix comes in the form of a modified framework-res.apk file that is then pushed via ADB. The modification gets rid of the gradient banding entirely—both in the settings menu and wherever else that particular gradient is used. While this won’t improve or image quality in any other way, it will certainly take care of an eyesore for Galaxy Nexus users. In a world where customization is key, removing an eyesore can be just as important. Additionally, arzbhatia is willing to apply the fix to any ROM that needs it, and that’s an opportunity many ROM devs should consider.

You can find more information, the full instructions, download links, and more in the modification thread. As usual, make a backup just in case you run into problems.

The reason why most users buy certain Android phones is because they like their feel. Vanilla Android lovers buy Nexus devices, HTC Sense fans buy HTC Sense phones, and so on. That does not mean that is the only type of Android they’ll ever get to experience, however, as there is this wonderful thing in Android development called ports. These ports give users a chance to check out a variety of UIs they would otherwise not be able to use first hand.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners can now play with Xperia UI goodness thanks to XDA Senior Member koaaN, who brings an Xperia Arc S port to the device. The port is very functional for only being a couple of weeks old, and there really isn’t too much wrong with it that will ruin the user experience. Currently, all the important things work such as data, SMS, phone calls, USB Storage, WiFi, and camera. The list of things that do not work is very short and includes less critical features such as NFC and video recording. So unless you really depend on your NFC chip or love to shoot videos with your phone, this ROM could be used as a daily driver. Those who need video recording and NFC simply need to be patient, as koaaN is working on these bugs as we speak.

Additional information, screen shots, download links, and more can be found in the original thread.

Practically everyone here at XDA-Developers has flashed his or her fair share of custom ROMs, kernels, tweaks, and mods. As all of you should know, flashing an update.zip carries some inherent risk. Occasionally, however, things go wrong, and we’re stuck with a hard- or soft-brick.

We want you to share your scariest and most nerve-racking flashing experiences with us. 20 winners (10 GSM and 10 CDMA/LTE) with the most interesting and unique tales will receive a customized and laser-etched Galaxy Nexus battery cover from GRUVER concepts. What better way to show off your XDAddiction than with an XDA-branded backplate?

To enter the contest, simply leave your story in the comments field below, including how you ultimately salvaged your device. Please also let us know your flavor of Galaxy Nexus. Winners will be chosen by Portal Admin willverduzco (Yes, that’s me—muhahaha!) on the basis of originality, humor, and ingenuity. The contest will run until next Monday, April 23rd, and winners will be announced at that time.

Good luck!

Update: Winners have been announced here! Thank you to everyone who participated!