Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini was released a year back. It is the cheaper version of Samsung Galaxy S3. It has a 4″ Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480×800 pixels (233ppi). It runs on a dual core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1GHz. It has 1GB of RAM. S3 Mini runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.

Android 4.4 is the latest Android OS and the CM 11 custom ROM running on Android 4.4 is available for a variety of devices. It is also available for Galaxy S3 Mini. It is still undergoing development but it is stable enough for day to day use. Follow the instructions given below to install it on the S3 Mini.

Disclaimer: Follow the instructions at your own risk. The writer cannot be held responsible for any bricked or unusable devices. Even though the chances of your Smartphone getting bricked are negligible, the owner of the device must take full responsibility of it!

Pre-requisites and Backing up your Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini:

• Create a Nandroid Backup
• Backup and Restore your Android smartphone via Desktop PC
• Backup/Sync and Restore contacts on Android smartphone
• Backup WhatsApp messages on Android Smartphone and Email

Requirements:

• Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini must be rooted
• Latest CWM or TWRP installed
• CM 11 zip file
• Gapps zip file

Steps to install CM 11 ROM on Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini:

1. Create a Nandroid backup from recovery, in case anything goes wrong.
2. Download the CM 11 zip file and Gapps zip file and transfer it to the phone.
3. Switch off the phone and boot the phone into Recovery mode.
4. Next, wipe the cache and the dalvik cache.
5. Now go to “Install zip” and then “Select zip”. Choose the CM 11 zip file.
6. Now again clear cache and dalvik cache.
7. Go to ”Install zip”, then “Select zip”. Choose the Gapps zip file.
8. Then perform full data wipe task. To do so, click “Wipe Data/Factory Reset”, then choose “Yes” on next screen to confirm.
9. After the process is complete, reboot the phone.