A variety of custom ROMs have been introduced for the Google Nexus 7. It seems that most Android developers are not yet satisfied with the raw power of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean running on this tablet. That's why custom ROMs are emerging for this tablet, bringing you an enhanced and customized Android OS on your Nexus 7. One of those custom ROMs is the Eclipse Nexus 7 ROM which is based on the build JRO03O of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean.

Created by XDA Developers member nitroglycerine33, the Eclipse Nexus 7 ROM allows you to customize every aspect of your Nexus 7, such as changing your battery icon. The ROM also features a dark theme on your tablet. Some say that changing your wallpaper to black will save more battery, although there are also claims that the battery-saving properties of a black screen bears little significance to LCD screens, such as the one the Nexus 7 sports. Nevertheless, the black theme still looks good and you can customize your tablet's interface by installing this custom ROM.

In this guide, learn how to flash the dark-themed Eclipse Nexus 7 ROM on the Nexus 7.

Warning

• The instructions in this guide are intended for use with the Asus Nexus 7. Applying these instructions on another device or model may produce undesired outcomes.
• The information in this guide is provided for instructional and educational purposes only. There is no guarantee that these instructions will work under your specific and unique circumstances.
• Use these instructions at your own risk. We shall not hold any responsibility or liability for whatever happens to you or your device arising from your use of the info in this guide.
• Read and understand the whole guide first before actually performing the instructions.

Requirements

• An Asus Nexus 7 with an unlocked bootloader and ClockworkMod Recovery installed.
  • Check out this toolkit that will easily root, unlock the bootloader, and flash custom recovery to your Nexus 7.
• Download the following files to your computer:
  • Eclipse ROM for your Nexus 7 (Eclipse-2.0-Grouper-Build14.zip, md5sum: 61831f7b6816a28b30b9b7f0effba956)
  • GApps (Google Apps) package for this ROM (Eclipse-gapps-jb-20128030-N7.zip, md5sum: ae4377b2829ff288a876e124d19b5aea) 
    • Main Link
    • Mirror Link
• Backup all personal data on your tablet to make sure you have a copy of your personal data (e.g., contacts, SMS, MMS, Internet settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and the like) in case the procedure in this guide erases such data.
  • For backup tips, check our guides on how to sync your data to the cloud and how to create local backups of your mobile data.

Instructions

1. Copy the ROM and GApps package ZIPfiles to the root of your tablet's SD card.
2. Switch off your Nexus 7.
3. Reboot your tablet into ClockworkMod Recovery. To do that, connect the tablet to a power source via USB cable. Hold down Volume Up, Volume Down, and Power buttons until you see an Android robot lying on its back. Using Volume Down, highlight Recovery mode and select it by pressing Power. After a while, the icon of Android with a red triangle appears. Hold down Power, then press Volume Up to enter Recovery Mode
4. Create a NANDroid backup of your current ROM. Select Backup and Restore and select Backup on the next screen.
5. If this is your first time to install the ROM, select Wipe data/factory reset and confirm the action on the next screen.
6. Go back to the main menu and select Install ZIP From SD card.
7. Select Choose ZIP From SD card and locate the Eclipse-2.0-Grouper-Build14.zip file. Confirm the action on the next screen to flash the ROM to your phone.
8. In the same manner as in steps 6 and 7, flash the GApps package to your tablet.
9. Once done, go back to main menu and select Reboot system now to restart your tablet.

Hooray! You have successfully flashed the Eclipse Nexus 7 ROM to your Asus Nexus 7.

(Banner photo uses Flickr image by motjetom)