CyanogenMod, the mother of all Android modding team, has finally released CyanogenMod 10 for Samsung Galaxy S III, which brings Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean to the phone. Jelly Bean is the latest version of Android, which brings numerous melioration to Ice Cream Sandwich ranging from new features such as Google Now to visual and non-visual improvements.
The release, though, is not complete yet, but almost all the tidbits are working properly except FM Radio. Jelly Bean’s smoothness can definitely be experienced with the animations, scroll and launcher being smoother than before, but window transitions still show some lag, which I expect should be fixed soon.
Flashing CyanogenMod 10 for Samsung Galaxy S3
Download: CyanogenMod 10 (XDA)
The flashing process is similar to any other ROM for Galaxy S3. I’ll explain the whole process in two ways:
Short, for expert users
From the above XDA link, download CM10 and GApps package. Boot your phone in recovery mode and flash both of them. Next, do a factory reset, wipe cache and you’re ready to go!
Detailed, for beginners
Flashing a ROM is a very simple task and completely harmless to your device, given that you follow the steps properly and in correct order.
- On the XDA page, you’ll find download links for two files – cm-10-XPLODWILD-PREVIEW-i9300 and gapps-jb. Download both of them and store them in your phone’s internal storage.
- Make sure you’ve installed ClockWorkMod recovery on your phone. Here’s a quick tutorial to flash CWM on Galaxy S3.
- Next, power off your Galaxy S3 and boot it into recovery mode by simultaneously pressing Volume up+Home+Power button. Volume buttons are present on the right, power on the left and the home in bottom middle.
- Using your volume to navigate, scroll down to install zip from sdcard. Then, browser to the folder where you’ve stored the CM10 zip file and install it. Again, flash GApps file in a similar way.
- Press back and choose wipe data/factory reset. Next, wipe cache partition and you’re ready to roll CyanogenMod 10 for Galaxy S3!
On the whole, Jelly Bean for Samsung Galaxy S3 looks beautiful, works smoothly and will definitely give a refreshing experience to those who’ve gotten used to TouchWiz. However, the battery life is a little harsh and currently not as good as in stock TouchWiz ROM. If you experience continuous force closes or application crashings, reboot your Galaxy S3 and it should start working fine again.