Although it’s been years since Samsung launched the Galaxy S2 smartphone, it doesn’t seem the phone has been abandoned by the company or the developers. It just keeps getting new ROMs and tools to be flashed with, and we’re happy to inform you that you can now install the latest and the greatest – Android 5.0 Lollipop – on your lovely Galaxy S2.
The update comes in the form of a custom ROM, known as CyanogenMod 12. The said ROM bums up the software version on your device to 5.0 and lets you enjoy many of the new features that weren’t available in your older version.
Did it sound good to you? Do you wish your old S2 to enjoy the latest version of the OS? If so, go ahead and get it flashed with the latest CM ROM:
Files You Need
1. Your Samsung Galaxy S2 must be rooted before you can follow the following tutorial. You should also have a custom recovery on your device.
2. Download CyanogenMod 12 to your computer. It is a custom ROM based on Android 5.0 Lollipop that you will flash on your device.
3. Download Google Apps package to your computer. These are the default Google apps that come preloaded on all the stock ROMs.
Updating the Samsung Galaxy S2 with Android 5.0 Lollipop
1. Make sure you haven’t extracted any of the archives that you have downloaded to your computer. They need to be in the ZIP format.
2. Connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable.
3. Copy both CyanogenMod 12 and Google Apps package from your computer over to the SD card storage on your phone.
4. When both the files are copied, disconnect your phone from your computer.
5. Head over to the Google Play store and download and install Quick Boot app on your phone.
6. Once the app is installed, launch it from your menu.
7. Tap on Recovery in the app and your phone will reboot into the custom recovery mode.
8. Once in recovery, select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard.
9. Navigate to the folder where you have saved CyanogenMod 12 and select it to be flashed on your phone.
10. Hit Yes when prompted and it should begin the flashing process.
11. When the ROM is flashed, select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard again.
12. This time though, choose the Google Apps package to be installed on your phone.
13. Wait for it to install on your phone.
14. When it’s done installing the apps, reboot your device.
15. You’re done!
Your phone should now reboot into Android 5.0 Lollipop consisting of all the great features that you’ve been wanting to get your hands on!