Owners of Android devices will admit that one of the best versions of the OS is KitKat 4.4. It is one of the most powerful along with the fact that it has support for handsets with low memory.
But despite the fact that it is among the best, Samsung seems to have forgotten about it for the Samsung Galaxy S2. Of course we are now onto the Samsung Galaxy S5 and it will be on the shelves very soon.
Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S2 should not be left out though and luckily there is a way for them to get their hands on KitKat 4.4 thanks to the CyanogenMod team. They have offered owners of the Samsung Galaxy S2 a custom ROM.
The firmware has the name of CyanogenMod 11 and anyone who owns the GT-i9100 version of the Samsung Galaxy S2 can install it. Owners will be happy to know that the ROM is free for bugs and it has all the benefits of KitKat 4.4 along with add-ons.
If you want to go ahead and install the ROM you should check out the steps below.
1: Flash this firmware to the Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 only. Doing it on other models will risk bricking it.
2: Root the handset and then install a custom recovery like ClockworkMod.
3: Install the USB drivers for your Galaxy S2 on your PC.
4: Make a manual backup of all your personal info, settings and data files.
5: Ensure that your battery level is at least 50% to stop any power interruptions during the flash.
6: Enable the USB debugging mode on your phone. Head to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging mode or Settings > Developer options > USB debugging.
7: Download CyanogenMod 11 for Galaxy S2 i-9100 and the Google Apps package to your computer.
Flashing Instructions
1: Connect your Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 to your PC via USB.
2: Copy the CyanogenMod 11 and the Google Apps packages to the SD card of the Galaxy S2. Do not extract the zip files.
3: Unplug the phone from the PC before turning it off.
4: Reboot into recovery mode by pressing and holding the volume up, home and power keys at the same time until the Samsung logo appears.
5: Inside recovery mode, make an Android backup of your current ROM. Select “backup and restores > backup.” You can then restore the saved ROM inside the SD card anytime you need to.
6: Do a full wipe on your phone. Select “wipe data/factory reset” and “wipe cache partition.” Then choose “advanced > wipe Dalvik cache.”
7: Return to the main menu and install the CyanogenMod 11 by selecting “install zip from SD card > choose zip from SD > search the ROM you have copied earlier > confirm installation.” Do the same thing with the Google Apps.
8: Once the installation has completed, go back and select “reboot system now.”
9: It might take five minutes or so before your Galaxy S2 reaches its home screen after rebooting.
