Owners of the GSM Nexus S were on top of the world last week, owing to the fact that an official Ice Cream Sandwich update had finally returned with Android 4.0.4. But in what seems to be the new norm, CDMA devices including the Nexus S 4G and Verizon’s XOOM and Galaxy Nexus were left out in the cold. At least one of those has been amended, if not exactly fixed: owners of Samsung’s Nexus S 4G can now run a leaked version of Android 4.0.4 on their neglected phones. BriefMobile broke the leak and is hosting the download.

Sorry, custom ROM users: this one comes via Samsung’s Odin desktop flashing program. In order to install it you’ll need to connect your Nexus S 4G to a computer with the correct drivers, start the phone in Download Mode then flash it manually. You will lose ALL data (including anything backed up via a custom recovery) so consider yourself warned. Those who rely on ClockworkMod or similar programs would do well to wait a day or two, until some friendly modders release a more universal ZIP ROM or update.

There’s still no word on when Google will send out the Android 4.0.4 update for the Nexus S 4G, or the Verizon XOOM or Galaxy Nexus. Earlier this year Google removed these three devices from its official support documentation in the open-source Android archives, stating that the closed-source code required in the software made them invalidated. While Google promises that they will continue to support these phones and tablets, there hasn’t been an official update since, and many consider the Nexus/developer device program somewhat tainted, at least on CDMA-based networks.

[device id=68] [via Phandroid]