I’ve always wanted to update my Samsung Galaxy Wonder to Android
Jelly Bean; lately my cellphone became quite slow (especially after the
latest upgrades to Android 2.3 from Samsung) and I always wanted to
install Chrome and Google Keep that both require Android 4. Samsung does
not provide any official release of Android 4, so I decided to go for a
custom ROM. In particular, I’m using Android Jelly Bean, 4.2.2, CyanogenMod 10.1 ALPHA (Build 7).
I had quite a hard time to understand how to install it; basically
because I had never installed a custom ROM. Moreover, the instructions
to do that can be found on the web but I never found a complete tutorial
that shows the procedure from the very start: they all assume that you
have already done previous steps.
Then, I decided to write a complete tutorial (this is based on Windows). This assumes you have an external sdcard on the phone.
The update will wipe out all
your data, so make sure you backup them first. Proceed at your own risk.
You will also lose Samsung warranty.
PLEASE, if you have problems with this custom ROM, DO NOT post comments to this blog post: use the official discussion forum thread.
Make sure you read the whole tutorial first, before proceeding.
Disclaimer: All the tools, mods or ROMs mentioned below
belong to their respective owners/developers. I am not to be held
responsible if you damage or brick your device.
USB Drivers
Make sure you can connect your Android phone with the computer. If
not, install the USB drivers for Samsung Galaxy W properly. The easiest
way is to install Samsung Kies.
Install ClockworkMod recovery using Odin
Download Odin zip file: Mediafire (this is the original page with this information)
Extract the odin Multi_Downloader_v4.43.exe file and run it.
Download recovery-clockwork-6.0.3.4-ancora.tar.md5 and Ancora.ops (this is the original page with this information).
In Odin
- enable “One Package” in options
- Select the Ancora.ops file,
- load the md5 file with the “One Package” button
Now you need to put your phone it into download mode, in order to upload the clockworkmod recovery file:- turn off phone,
- hold Volume Down + Home + Power Button for a while till the phone turns on.
- the phone will turn on and show some screen,
- plug in usb cable
- press Volume Up
At this point Odin should detect the connected phone
In Odin press the “Start” button, and the downloading should start (see the phone):
Wait for the download to finish (see Odin)
Now you can unplug and turn-off the phone.Create a backup of the current image
Turn on the phone in the Recovery Mode: hold Volume Up + Home + Power Button
for a while till the phone turns on (Note: this time it is “Volume Up”,
not “Volume Down”). Release power button as soon as samsung logo
appears and hold your volume up button + home button until clockworkmod
recovery appears on the screen
To use the menus:- Volume buttons to move in the menu
- Home button to select a menu
- Power button to go back
Select “backup and restore” and then “backup to external sdcard”:
and wait for the backup to complete
You can now reboot the phone from the main screen. The phone will reboot as usual.
You may want to store a copy of the backup in your computer hard
disk; just connect the phone with USB, and navigate to the directory
where the backup was saved on the phone sdcard:
Perform the update
Download CyanogenMod 10.1 ALPHA (Build 7) and Google Apps
Put these files in the root folder of your external SD card (you can
turn on the phone as usual and connect it via USB for that, or copy
these files from the computer using an external card reader).
When the copy finished, disconnect the phone and turn it off.
Switch ON the phone in the Recovery Mode: pressing and holding Volume Up + Home + Power buttons together.
Now wipe data and cache selecting the following commands (and wait for them to complete)
- Select “wipe data/factory reset”
- Select “wipe cache partition”
- Select “advanced” and then select “wipe dalvik cache”
Now go back to the main menu (Recall: use the power button to go back)
Select “install zip from sdcard” and choose the zip file containing the OS (in this case it is cm-10.1-20130611-EXPERIMENTAL-ancora-alpha7.zip) from the root of the SD card (where you previously copied it).
Now
do the same for the google apps zip file: select “install zip from
sdcard” and choose the zip file containing the OS (in this case it is gapps-jb-20130301-signed.zip) from the root of the SD card.
Reboot into the new system
Now you’re ready to reboot into the new system from the main menu!
NOTE: Your Phone will boot now and it might take about 5 minutes to boot on your first time. So, please wait.
If everything went fine, you should see the new logo
Then you should see all the menu screens for configuring the phone!
Note: as for me, this procedure started with an error message saying
that the vocal synthesis engine crashed, but I simply ignored the
message and went on.
After you inserted your Google account, the phone should be ready; at
this point, if you selected an Internet connection, all the
applications you had previously installed from Google Play should be
installed automatically… it took about an hour in my case.
First Impressions
The system seems rather stable and surely more responsive than before!
Battery usage seems to have increased, especially when connected with WIFI.
All in all, I’m very happy of the new system. 
