Rom Android 4.4.2 KitKat S3 mini GT-i8190: Download + Tutorial

If you have been following Android Boss you will surely know that Samsung has already said that there will definitely be NO KitKat update (there will be no Android 4.4 or higher versions) for the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini.

Surely you have also noticed that I use an S3 mini so this is disappointing news for me too. However, all is not lost. KitKat can still be installed on the S3 mini, unofficially.

What I have done on my S3 mini is to install a version of Android 4.4 specific for this phone model, which has been created by independent developers who are doing this. It is a “snug” version of KitKat (Custom ROM) to run on the S3 mini. If you want to do some research, this custom ROM I’m talking about is based on Cyanogenmod 11, but previously modified by developer Maclaw to work specifically on the S3 mini.

If you want to put KitKat on your S3 mini too, keep reading.

Disclaimer:
The following procedure may render your mobile UNUSABLE and will void your warranty. Neither Android Boss nor the publisher of this article are responsible for any issues related to this tutorial. You must do it under your entire responsibility and knowing in advance what you are going to do.

Having said the above, I recommend that you follow all the steps that I indicate to the letter. Each device has a different status, so I can’t guarantee that nothing will happen to your phone, but generally, if you follow the steps correctly, you should be successful.

What you need

• A Samsung Galaxy S3 mini phone model I8190, I8190L or I8190N. (You can find out which model is your S3 mini from Settings> Device information).
• Battery charged at least 70%.
• The phone must be rooted and with TWRP Recovery installed. There is a very good video on YouTube that allows you to get both on your phone in just a few minutes.
• The Android KitKat version for the S3 mini (Custom ROM). You can download at this link (From here you download the respective Gapps that I explain below). You must press Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, choose CyanogenMod and then choose “KitKat 4.4.2 (CyanogenMod 11.0) 20140524” (which is the one available at the time of writing this article). You must click on the word «download» (NOT on the word Odin) to download. You must click on the word “recovery” to download (not on the word Odin). Copy the downloaded ZIP file to your phone’s memory card (in the main or root folder for quick location).

Backup data
Once you have all that, it is highly recommended that you backup the state of your current phone (Nandroid Backup). If something goes wrong, this backup will help you return your phone to the state it was at the beginning, as it was working and with all its data (applications, photos, music, video, etc.).

For this, you must first turn off the S3 mini. Once off, press the Home, Power and Volume Up buttons at the same time. The phone will start up and the TWRP Recovery menu will open. There you must touch on the Backup option. On the next screen make sure the Use external SD box to save the backup there is selected (make sure the memory card has enough space. In my case my backup took up more or less 3 GB). You leave the rest as it is (the System, Data and Boot boxes must be activated) and drag the slider that is at the bottom (from left to right) to confirm the creation of the Backup.

If something goes wrong, you can restore the phone from the TWRP itself, using the Restore option and choosing the folder with the backup files you just created. After installing this new ROM, the TWRP that you had installed will be erased and the original recovery of the phone will remain. You will have to reinstall the TWRP recovery, using the same video indicated at the beginning (you will only have to make the first part of it, referring to the recovery. The second part of the video refers to the root; you should not do that).

Upgrade Samsung Galaxy S3 mini to KitKat

Once the backup is created (it may take several minutes), within the same TWRP menu you must choose the Wipe option. On the next screen you must Wipe all the options that appear EXCEPT for Format Data and External Storage (Wipe is used to erase everything; in this case we do not want to erase the data from the memory card. It is not necessary to do so).

Once this is done, finally comes the installation of Android KitKat on your S3 mini. Right there inside the TWRP you go to the Install option. On the next screen you must find and select the Custom ROM that you downloaded at the beginning and that you should have copied to the memory card of your phone. Confirm the installation of this ZIP file.

The installation process will begin. Once finished you must click on Wipe Cache / Dalvik and then on Reboot System.

If everything went well, your S3 mini will already have Android 4.4.2 KitKat installed. You can see the screenshots or screenshots of how my Samsung Galaxy S3 mini looks with this ROM clicking on this link.

Installation of Google Play Store and others GApps

The Google Play Store will not be installed, as you can see. Neither do other Google apps like Gmail.

To install them you must do exactly the same procedure that you did to install Android 4.4.2. Before that, first download the respective Google Apps from the link I indicated at the beginning to download the ROM. You must choose Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, Google Apps and then choose Google Apps (4.4.x). You must click on the link that says “micro”, which is the ZIP file that contains the minimum necessary Google Apps. Then you can install others that interest you from Google Play.

Updated 07/16/2014: By clicking on the Google Apps download link, you are redirected to a post on XDA-Developers with the different types of Google Apps “packages”. There I recommend downloading the basic or minimal package “MICRO MODULAR PACKAGE”.

Copy the ZIP file of the Google Apps to the memory card. Then turn off the phone. Once off, press the three buttons at the same time (Home, Power and Volume up) to enter TWRP Recovery. Choose Install, select the ZIP of the Google Apps and confirm the installation.

Tap on Wipe Cache / Dalvik when installation is complete and then Reboot System. You should already have the Play Store installed and other Google applications.

It works well?
Installing a custom ROM has its advantages and disadvantages. Ours is that, thanks to this we can have Android KitKat in the S3 mini and, in my personal case, I can install applications that I couldn’t before when I had Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 and enjoy other advantages of KitKat. But it also has some downsides. Both things I quote below.

The good:
From what I can see so far, everything works fine on my S3 mini (camera, wifi, bluetooth, etc.). The Play Store and the installation of applications from there also works well. The installed custom ROM claims to be stable (no major issues) according to the developer, so there should be no issues there. Despite this, it is constantly being improved and its latest version can always be downloaded from the aforementioned page.

It is faster and smoother than the Android operating system that the phone comes with. It is also more beautiful, personally speaking. Cyanogenmod has a design similar to what you have in Google’s Nexus devices, so the thing goes around talking about the interface. You can see the screenshots taken from my S3 mini with this Android 4.4.2 ROM, in the link I indicated before.

The status bar becomes transparent (I honestly love this detail) and, of course, since the operating system is KitKat after all, any application developed so far can be installed. There is no longer that “Your device is not supported” problem. Plus there are all the benefits of KitKat that I already mentioned.

The ROM is already rooted. You save yourself from rooting again, if it was rooted before the ROM change. If not, you still enjoy the benefits of being root with this ROM.

The bad:
When I installed the latest version of the Play Store (the APK) I obtained that the images of the applications were distorted. It does not happen with all APKs because I checked it with an APK of a non-Google application. I do not know if it is just an inconvenience talking about the Play Store or certain Google applications that have a problem when installing in this way.

Sometimes certain things don’t work THE FIRST TIME, for example screen rotation, or also Google Now. It is tolerable that it is the first time, nothing more.

At first I had the impression that the battery was draining faster. I restarted it and it seems things have calmed down in this regard.

Conclution
Except for the problem I had with the faulty Play Store and the battery drain print, I have simply been delighted with this Cyanogenmod-based ROM. The perfomance or performance of the phone is superior to what it had when it was an original Samsung Android. There are no major glitches. The interface is very attractive. All this, beyond the benefits of having KitKat installed. Worth it yeah.

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