When owners of the Samsung Galaxy S3 in the UK received the update to Jelly Bean 4.3 it brought with it nothing but grief. Now there is a custom ROM and this takes the device to KitKat 4.4. Owners of the i9300 version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 can now update to this ROM and avoid the issues that came with the official version of Jelly Bean 4.3.
The KitKat 4.4 ROM is offered by OmniROM developers and it has been said to be stable. Almost everything is working apart from clear video playback and the camera.
Owners who want to make the update to the KitKat 4.4 ROM need to be aware of the following.
The ROM is for the GT-i9300 version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 only.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 has to be rooted and ClockWorkMod Touch 6.0.32 needs to be installed or a later version.
The handset should be backed up and a manual back-up is recommended.
Owners need to enable USB debugging and this can be done by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB ‘debugging’ or ‘Settings’ > Developer Options > USB ‘debugging.’
The USB drivers need installing for the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The OminiROM 4.4 ROM and PA Gapps need installing on the PC.
Flashing Instructions
Connect your Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 to the PC with a USB cable.
Copy the OmniROM 4.4 and PA Gapps and paste it onto the SD card of your phone, without extracting the zip files.
Unplug the smartphone then turn it off.
Reboot your Galaxy S3 into recovery mode by pressing and holding the volume up, home and power keys at the same time until you see the Samsung logo.
You can use touch controls or hard keys to move around inside recovery mode.
Do an Android backup of your current ROM. Choose ‘backup and restore > backup’ to save the ROM so that you an restore it anytime you want to.
Install firmware and Google Apps by selecting ‘install zip from SD card > choose zip from SD card > search for the OmniROM 4.4 file you have pasted earlier > confirm installation.’ Do the same thing with the PA Gapps.
After the installation finishes, return to the main menu and select ‘wipe data/factory reset.’
Reboot the device by selecting ‘reboot system now.’ Wait for four or five minutes for your Galaxy S3 to reach its home screen.
Your Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 should now be running the latest Android 4.4 KitKat.
If you get stuck in a boot loop, reboot your Galaxy S3 into recovery mode and perform the following:
– ‘wipe data/factory reset’
– ‘wipe cache partition’
– ‘advanced > wipe Dalvik cache’
– ‘install zip from SD card
– ‘reboot system now’
