Samsung’s flagship device Galaxy S4 was unveiled back in March, 2013 and following the flagship its mini version came out as well known as Galaxy S4 mini. Out of the box Samsung Galaxy S4 mini runs on Android 4.2.2 and Samsung hasn’t announced any firmware updates, nor any date is hinted so far for any kind of update, the device is still running on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
While Android 4.3 is already there and now Android 4.4 KitKat has also come out, many of the Galaxy S4 mini owners might be looking for a way to get hands on an updated Android version on their device. The developers over xda-developers forum have always done the awesome work for the users, and they’ve successfully made an Android 4.3 firmware based on Cyanogenmode 10.2 custom ROM. We’ll be having a look on the method to update the 3G variant of the Galaxy S4 mini GT-I9190 to Android 4.3 CM 10.2 custom ROM.
While installing custom firmwares /rooting your phone, please keep it in mind that the Root Process or the custom roms aren’t official and have nothing to deal with Google Inc and the device manufacturer, which is Samsung in our case. Follow the guide carefully to prevent any damages to the device as the method is completely custom. Make sure that you’re doing it at your own risk.
Here are some pre-requisites you must have before you begin:
- Make sure that you’ve rooted your device and installed cwm recovery. Here’s our guide to root and install cwm on your Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9190. Only use this recovery, otherwise you may result in bricking your device.
- Make sure that you’ve battery charged over 60%, this is highly recommended in order to prevent any mishap during the flashing process.
- Make sure that you have battery charged over 60 % and have backed up all your important Contacts, Call Logs & Messages.It is highly recommended in case of any mishap or data loss to backup all your important data. Also backup the list of applications that you want to install later.
- Backup your ROM using the Backup option in the CWM recovery. This is recommended in case you want to return to your old ROM after flashing the custom ROM.
- All set? Let’s move forward.
How to Install Android 4.3 using CM 10.2 custom ROM on Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9190:
- Download the CyanogenMod 10.2 Android 4.3 Custom ROM and place it on your phone’s sd card.
- Download gapps-jb-20130813-signed.zip and place on your phone’s sd card.
- After having placed both files on your phone’s sd card, boot into the recovery mode, to do so, press and hold Volume Up + Home Button + Power Key simultaneously unless you see the recovery mode.
- In recovery mode select ”install zip from sd card > choose zip” and select the downloaded CyanogenMod 10.2 ROM file that you placed on your sd card and select ”yes”.
- It will take a while to install the CM 10.2 custom ROM, after that once again select ‘‘install zip from sd card > choose zip’‘ and select the gapps-jb-20130813-signed.zip file this time and select ”yes”, it will flash the gapps on your device.
- Reboot your device now and enjoy the newly installed Android 4.3 CM 10.2 custom rom on your Galaxy S4 Mini.
- In case your device is strucked up in the boot loop, boot into the recovery mode and wipe data/cache, and try rebooting it.
That’s All! In case you got any queries, feel free to write us in the comment box below. We will try our best to help you out. Thanks All!
i9192 work?
nope
Hello… this custom ROM includes Galaxy Gear compatibility fro i9190? Thanks.
@disqus_QzKYLeaX3C:disqus i’m not sure , you may give it a try but gear is not compatible with mini S4.
Hi @usamamujtaba:disqus , thanks for your answer. Will try… i’d understood that compatibility came with Android 4.3. In fact, I read somewhere that S3, Note 2 and S4 were going to be updated soon to 4.3 in order to sync with Gear. Will let you know how it works… Thanks!
Hello. Which of the Cyanogen files is for the 9190? I have downloaded the first and it gives me an error because the file is for the 9195.
Volume Up + Home Button + Power Key or Volume Down + Home Button + Power Key not enter in recovery mode.
S4 mini generic
help-me please.
@joomello:disqus try any method from this guide: https://techbeasts.com/2013/12/16/how-to-boot-samsung-galaxy-devices-in-download-recovery-mode/
In Recovery mode, I don’t get an “Install from sd card” option, only “apply update from external storage” & “apply update from ADB”. I selected external storage but as expected, it couldn’t install the zip file. So I placed the extracted files on the SD card & tried again, but after I’ve chosen the package to install, it keeps going deeper into the files for me to choose (install / meta.inf/system) and none seem to initiate the installation. Please help?
Edit: I installed CWM with Odin earlier but now I’ve just read that if CWM is not installed, you don’t get the install zip option. I just tried it again and it said PASS but still not getting the install zip option 🙁
Edit2: Good grief! The phone wasn’t rooted! I could have sworn I rooted it last year to fix the memory ????
@linburnlane:disqus Install Zip option appears in CWM. If CWM isn’t working for you, you can try installing TWRP. TWRP for S4 Mini is also available on our site, you can search it using the search option.
If you rooted and flashed a stock firmware later on, the phone must have lost root access.
For now you need to install a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP to flash this ROM.
A suggestion: Do not install 4.3, Android 5.1.1 or 5.0 custom ROM is also available on our site, Try installing that as you will have higher version of Android.