Last Updated on September 1, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

The Galaxy S3 Mini I8190 has just received an update to the latest 4.1.2 Jelly Bean firmware. This update has a build number of XXAMG1. It rolled out over the air roughly 2 days ago to selected devices, and that should continue for about a couple of weeks. It’s also available via Samsung KIES if you want to do that. The other option is to follow this guide, and you’ll be done in 5 minutes.

It’s been a good week for the mini range with now all having gotten an upgrade. We’ve covered all the others also if you want to take a look or you know anybody with those devices.

This is installed no matter what you are running on your phone. It can be rooted or not, and it will work either way. One thing you will want to note if you are using a rooted phone is that the access will be revoked when you follow this guide. It is not a big issue though, because it can be re-applied with another way once you are finished with the installation guide. It’s also a very handy way to make your warranty working again because when it goes back to a stock firmware like this one, the manufacturer can’t pick up on anything you had done to it before.

Ensure that you have the USB debugging mode enabled on the mobile. You can check this by following the path of “menu > settings > developer options”.

Don’t start until things are back up including the EFS folder. There are also other parts of data which will be sensitive to being erased like your contacts. Don’t let this slip away like I have done before because it takes hours and hours to put them all back again. In addition, backup the phone contacts, SMS messages with SMS Backup, pictures, video and files.

This guide is to be followed if you did not receive yours over the air and into your settings. When it does arrive, in most cases it should give you a notification letting you know it is there to install. If this did not happen, you can go to Settings, General, Software update and check if anything is here. If it is empty, there is a chance it is still waiting to arrive or you are living in the wrong area, and it is not coming to you. For that reason, you will need to follow this guide instead.

Download and install the Samsung USB Drivers here for a productive connection if you do not have them already. Some people may prefer to download them with the Samsung Kies. However, make sure you disable Kies before starting the steps since it can interfere with the Odin application.

Any root access is revoked by flashing stock software over the top of the unchained operating system. The  decent news is the warranty comes back in your favor and the manufacturer will look at the handset once again if anything goes wrong and the warranty covers the problem. You can gain root access again by following up with a fresher guide.

You will need a Windows-based computer, laptop or notebook to complete the steps. It needs a USB slot for us to use. The app here does not work for Mac OS X or Linux operating systems.

Install XXAMG1 Android 4.1.2 On the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini I8190

1. First things first. Hit up the Android 4.1.2 I8190XXAMG1 firmware file. Get your hands on the ODIN v3.07 also. Extract them both.

2. Put the Galaxy mini I8190 into download mode.
– press the Home + Power + Volume Down keys at the same time.

3. Run ODIN on the desktop and then plug the mini mobile into the computer.

Look out for a message that is blue or yellow to let you know that a connection has been made successfully. This will come up near the ID: COM Port. Failure to recognize this is fixed by disconnecting everything, including the phone from the computer and shutting down the Odin app. Try to find new USB drivers before opening everything up and trying again one more time.

4. Now upload the firmware file to PDA button.

Check the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time options are on. Leave the rest off like the default settings suggest, including the re-partition box unless you are using a pit file.

5. Click start.

It will take some time to complete. When done it will reboot itself. be patient as the boot process can take some minutes for the first time.

6. Wait until the ID: COM port changes color again and the “pass” message shows up on the screen.

7. Disconnect the smartphone properly by stopping the USb Mass Storage device from the “safely remove hardware” icon in the Windows system tray.

If something has not gone to plan open up the recovery mode by pressing the power + volume up + home buttons simultaneously and wiping the cache.