The Nexus 4 has been out for a little over a week now. And like with every new high-end smartphone out there, precursors to custom ROMs, viz. Bootloader unlock and Custom Recovery has already been outed for it. Not surprising then, that custom ROMs would follow soon after. We’ve already seen Jelly Time, the first of the lot, being released a couple of days ago.

And now XDA recognized developer krarvind, from the much acclaimed Slim  Roms team, has released a new pre-alpha version of the Slim Bean ROM based on  Android 4.2. Slim Bean  is based purely on AOSP, and is very close to stoock Android, but has a few interesting touches unique to Slim Bean ROMs like  lower DPI and multi-DPI Playstore, varrious other modifications which make it a light and fast ROM. Slim Bean is the Jelly Bean based variant of the hugely popular Slim ICS ROM, and it now arrives in its bran new Android 4.2 flavor.

Like I mentioned earlier, it’s still a pre-alpha, which means not everything is expected to be 100% functional. A couple of features like Face Unlock and Auto Restore are still work in progress, but one can still go ahead and try it out, if you’re lucky enough to have got your hands on a Nexus 4. Read on to know how you can flash the Slim Bean 4.2 ROM on your Nexus 4.

Compatibility

The procedure described below is only for the LG Nexus 4. Do not try it on any other device.

Warning!

The methods and procedures discussed here are considered risky, so try them out at your own risk, and make sure to read each step carefully before attempting anything. We will not be held responsible if anything goes wrong.

How to Install Slim Bean ROM on Nexus 4

  1. Firstly, to be able to flash Custom ROMs, you need to unlock the bootloader on your Nexus 4. If you haven’t already done so, you can refer to our Bootloader Unlock guide for the Nexus 4. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe out all your data, so it would be wise to back up all your important data from your device by referring to our Android Backup Guide
  2. You also need to have CWM or ClockworkMod Recovery installed for flashing the ROM. If  you don’t already have it,  you can refer to this guide to install CWM on your Nexus 4.
  3. Now lets go ahead and download all the stuff that we need to flash on the Nexus 4, from the source page. 
    • Latest version of the Slim Bean ROM
    • Android 4..2 GAPPS package
    • Multi-DPI Play Store
    • [Optional] Stock Jelly Bean 4.2 launcher  (Default launcher in ROM is HoloLauncherHD)
  4. Copy all the files you downloaded in Step 3 to your Phone SD card
  5. Now turn off your phone and boot into CWM recovery. To do that first boot into the bootloader mode holding the Volume Down + Power button simultaneously till you see the big Start sign at the top. Then, using the volume buttons, scroll to the “Recovery mode” option, then select it using the power button to enter CWM recovery.
  6. First thing to do in recovery, before flashing any ROM is to take a full Nandroid backup of your existing ROM. That way, you have a fallback option in case things get messy with the new ROM. To do this, select Backup and Restore from the main menu, and then select Backup on the next screen
  7. Now from the main menu, select wipe data/factory reset, then select Yes on next screen to confirm. Wait a bit for the data wipe to get completed.
  8. After the data wipe has been completed, select install zip from sdcard, then select choose zip from sdcard. Scroll to the Slim Bean ROM file and select it. Confirm installation on the next screen.
  9. Once the Slim Bean ROM installation is complete, go back to the main  menu and repeat Step 8, for the Gapps package, Multi DPI Play Store and the Android 4.2 JB Launcher, specifically in that order.
  10. Once you are done flashing all four zip files, select Go back to return to the Main menu, and then select Reboot System to boot into the OS.
When your phone boots back up, you should be running the light and speedy Slim Bean 4.2 Custom ROM on your device. Try it out and let us know how you like it.