Earlier today, Samsung decided it was time to let the Mini owners join in on the fun by letting them get an official firmware upgrade for the S3 Mini I8190 which will put the latest Android Jelly bean 4.1.2 that is available for the mobile.

Being an official upgrade brought out by the Samsung, there isn’t much in the way of warnings to go along with it. Simply upgrade if you want to try the XXAMD3 version.

As usual, there are some things to consider before starting. I’ll run you through them quickly.

  • The Galaxy S3 Mini I8190 USB drivers will allow your mobile connection to the computer. The USB debugging mode should be enabled from the Developer Options menu before proceeding.
  • This cell phone launched only a few months ago, along with some other mobiles. Having several different sized variants of the one type of mobile is becoming increasingly popular. It looks like it’s a trend that it’s going to continue not only as the mobile industry grows, but also as the market shapes itself. One of Android’s most successful features was that it came in a whole range. It propelled its sales ahead of the iPhone. If you continue that module there is no reason the same can’t be said for bringing out even more specific ranges.
  • This is a cool device. When carriers bring out mini versions it generally isn’t the only mini in size, but also mini in features and capabilities. Many people don’t need the big time specs, though, which is why it makes sense to make these. If you own one already then kudos to you.
  • The steps should only be applied on the I8190 variant of the Mini smartphone and not other. You can always check what model you have in your hands by navigating to the Settings menu and selecting the ‘About phone’ menu. Failing to comply with this notice can result in soft-bricking of the handset. Otherwise it will not work at the least.
  • The USB charging feature should see you safely through to the end. However, sometimes the feature is not working. Therefore if you notice the battery icon not charging up when taking a look at it from the status bar, you should make sure there is at least 50% battery power saved up before starting the steps.

Update Galaxy S3 Mini I8190 with XXAMD3 Android 4.1.2

1. Download the Android 4.1.2 I8190XXAMD3, as well as ODIN 3.07 and extract the files.

2. Turn off the cell phone and boot it back up into download mode.

3. Run the ODIN, which we downloaded in the first step and plug the mobile into the computer. It’s possible you may develop some struggles around about this time. If that is the case it, there are two common reasons for this. One is that you do not have administrator permissions. The second is that the device is not being recognized. If it is the latter this generally happens because of incorrect drivers, in which case, you want to click on the link inserted above to get them.

4. Fetch the. tar.md5 file from the extracted file and put in the PDA.

Below the PDA is another one called Phone. Put the modem file in here. The same thing again, you will need to grab it from the extracted contents.

Next in line if we follow the boxes down the list is the CSC. In here you need to put the CSC file which can also be found in the same place as the previous files.

Now, if we focus our eyes back above all the other buttons, you should see a re-partition box at the very top. If you manage to find a pit file, upload it to here.

Note: If you did find the pit file, now look over to the left more where there are small check boxes under the heading of options. Here is another re-partition box. Mark this as checked.

Make sure Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time boxes are checked.

Once you have checked and done all that it’s time to hit the start button.

The full process can take in excess of 10 minutes. When it is done it will reboot by itself. The booting can take some time to finish up also for the first time so be patient and don’t worry.