Cyanogen Mod 9.0.0 Beta 3 For Galaxy Mini/Pop GT-S5570 Smartphone

Yesterday, I posted about CM9 for Galaxy Ace GT-S5830 Smartphone and since then I have got many questions regarding a stable Cyanogen Mod 9 for Samsung Galaxy Mini as well. So, here I have today the Cyanogen Mod 9 rom based on Android 4.0.3 Operating System for Galaxy Mini/Pop GT-S5570 smart phones. So, if you have got galaxy mini then it's flashing time now. Thanks to the developer, squadzone for his quick act on releasing another beta update for his Ice Cream Sandwich based Cyanogen Mod 9 custom rom for galaxy pop/mini. This Beta 3 release seems to be quite better than the previous releases but, still it has many glitches that are yet to be fixed.

So, below is an overview of what's working and what's not in this rom.

What's Working?

CM9 Home Screen On Galaxy Pop/Mini

• Booting fine.
• Touch Screen (multitouch)
• WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth
• Audio and Video
• Graphics.
• All Sensors (Auto-rotation, proximity, accelerometer, etc.).
• GSM Functions (Call/SMS/Mobile Data).
• Keypad
• Google Apps (Market, YouTube, etc.). Make sure you flash Google Apps (gapps for ics zip file) in clockwork mod recovery.
• Hardware Acceleration (Sometimes screen flickers).
• USB Mass Storage *
• USB Tethering *
• Wireless Tethering *
• Widgets, Wallpapers, etc work fine. Live Wallpapers from system doesn't work but you can download from market and use them.
• Browser.

* : Work with third party apps. For USB Storage use USBMassStorageToogle.apk by bexton (many thanks to him). For Tethering use Wired Tether and Wireless Tether app from market.

What's Not Working?

• Camera
• FM Radio

So, there are the things that are working in this latest Cyanogen Mod 9 beta 3 release. Below are some of the features of this latest custom rom.

• New Kernel with genlock, support for IPv4 and IPv6, new feature Net-filter, audio Loop, new audio driver, zcache and overclocking features up to 864 MHz with different governors.
• Cyanogen Mod Settings from CM7 merged (not all, only some).
• Soft Buttons added at the bottom of the screen for navigation.
• Many bug fixes and other improvements.

So, now after this review I am sure you are anxious to give to Ice Cream Sandwich based CM9 a try. But, before you actually flash this rom on your galaxy pop/mini gt-s5570 handset, I recommend you view some of these screenshots of CM9 Beta3 rom here (I will upload soon). And once you are ready to give this rom a try, follow the instructions from below carefully.

Disclaimer : Do It At Your Own Risk!

Note : Those who have Gingerbread OS and any Custom Recovery installed on their device can skip Step 1 and Step 2. Also, you can skip these steps if you have any custom roms installed on your device.

1. Upgrade your firmware to Gingerbread using Odin Multidownloader v4.38.

2. Install any custom recovery available for Samsung Galaxy Mini/Pop. You may either have Clock Work Mod Recovery or RZ Recovery - any is fine.

3. Download Cyanogen Mod 9.0.0 BETA 3 (update-cm-9.0.0-BETA3-GT-S5570-GalaxyMini-KANG-signed.zip)  from Roms and Utilities page.

4. Copy the downloaded file to the (root directory of) your sd-card.

5. Reboot your device to Custom Recovery (Press Home + Power Button).

6. [Optional but, Recommended] Do a Nandroid Backup of your current rom.

7. Choose Install Zip From Sd Card>>Choose Zip From SD Card option and then select the file (named:  update-cm-9.0.0-BETA3-GT-S5570-GalaxyMini-KANG-signed.zip ) you downloaded from above.

Note : If you are using RZ Recovery, choose Install Menu>>Select  update-cm-9.0.0-BETA3-GT-S5570-GalaxyMini-KANG-signed.zip you downloaded>>Select Wipe Data and Wipe Cache>>Choose Install  update-cm-9.0.0-BETA3-GT-S5570-GalaxyMini-KANG-signed.zip and wait till the rom is flashed.

8. Wait till the rom is flashed/installed on your device. Once done, Wipe Data and Wipe cache from recovery menu.

9. Reboot your device from your recovery main menu.

Additional Zips/Updates

• Google Apps : Flash this in Clock Work Mod Recovery. No need to wipe data.
• update-disable-softkeys-CM9-BETA3(AntiBillOS_edited).zip : Flash this in Clockwork Mod recovery if you want to remove those soft buttons at the bottom of the screen. It is working fine and won't tamper with your settings layout, thanks to AntiBillOS for that. Warning : Though it fixes problem with soft buttons and settings layout, it increases flickering. 
• patch_ics_circle_carrier_label_for_CM9_BETA3.zip : Fix for circle status bar and carrier label in lock-screen.

So, that's all. You have successfully installed latest Cyanogen Mod 9 Beta 3 rom on your Samsung Galaxy Pop/Mini GT-S5570 smartphone. The developer recommends that you set both Windows Animations Scale and Transitions Animations Scale to the value 1.5x or above in Settings-->Developer Options as well as set Max Frequency around 710MHz in Settings-->Peformance-->Processor-->Max CPU Frequency. Also, for Google Apps like Gmail, Youtube, etc, flash the Google Apps For ICS from this article. You can also use the gapps from the Updates section above.

So, once you have configured your galaxy mini/pop properly please take some time to explorer this latest CM9 rom throughly and get the real taste of Ice Cream Sandwich OS and then let us know how you feel about this rom at the comments below. Also, don't hesitate to ask for help if you have any doubts. P.S. Don't forget to say thanks to the developer at this development thread on xda-forums if you like his work and want to encourage him.