Samsung’s Galaxy S2 is almost 12 years old, but back in the day, the android smartphone was considered one of the best devices around. And now, the ancient smartphone seems to be getting reinvigorated with a new ROM of Android 12.
XDA Developer forum user ‘rINanDO‘ has managed to get Android 12 running on a 1.2GHz processor and only 1GB of RAM. Typically unofficial ROMs are buggy, but this one is reportedly pretty good based on several forum users’ posts.
The following features are currently working in the ROM:
- RIL (Phone/SMS)
- Audio
- Bluetooth (audio & headset)
- Wi-Fi
- IMEI
- Touchkeys
- Hardware encode/decoder
- Display
- DRM, for e.g. Netflix
- Selinux enforced
- BitGapps
- Magisk v23.0
- FM Radio (using Spirit2)
The functionality below isn’t working:
- AGPS
- Camera Video recording
- PowerHAL
- Live Display
- MicroG support
Keep in mind that the Galaxy S2 is still a device that’s well over a decade old, so don’t expect the ROM actually to improve the handset’s performance in a significant way. Still, it’s fascinating to see someone put the effort into creating a ROM like this simply because they could.
Typically, I’d advise against modding your device as it would void your warranty, but given how old the Galaxy S2 is, you likely don’t have much to lose. Here are the steps to install this ROM on Samsung’s Galaxy S2.
Source: XDA Developers forums, XDA Developers