Alpha Build of CM11 Available for Galaxy S4

We all know that the Android 4.4 KitKat firmware has made its way for the public use, but only for a limited number of devices. The official update for all supporting handsets it might take a while until it will be available. However, now, Samsung Galaxy S4 users will be able to experience the latest firmware with the help of the new Alpha CM 11 custom ROM that the CyanogenMod team has already developed. Since Samsung has failed to announce when they plan to release the official KitKat firmware update, this amazing replacement will do the job just fine.

However, when choosing to install the alternative custom CM11 ROM in order to enjoy the KitKat features, keep in mind that this is not an official release by Samsung, but just a custom ROM which would require a custom recovery such as ClockworkMod – CWM recovery – in order to flash the ROM zip as well as Google Apps zip files on your phone. In the same time, as a different condition, the Galaxy S4 LTE 19505 should be rooted and have a custom recovery installed on it – CWM or any other custom recovery.

Since this is not a final build, there are several things that might not work as they should. Here are some examples of features that are currently not working on this Android 4.4 KitKat CM 11 custom ROM: broken IR Blaster pending, screen rotation working only 50/50, Wi-Di, Proximity sensor. In the same time, there are other interesting features and options that work properly on the new custom ROM.

Before updating the Galaxy S4 LTE 19505 to Android 4.4 KitKat CM 22, keep in mind a couple of things. As expected, make sure you backup all your data in order to prevent further disasters. In the same time, you will have to connect your Android device to a computer. For this, you will have to install the USB drivers for Samsung Galaxy S4 properly.

In the case of backup, fortunately, Samsung allows users to back up data using Samsung KIES. However, if you choose a manual backup, you will get more features and options, and it will be quite easy to store and move data across Android devices from different manufacturers.

A couple of days ago, a different version of CyanogenMod 11 alpha / CM 11 for the Nexus 5 was released, and the new Alpha test version for S5 is pretty much the same thing. As it was mentioned earlier, the custom ROM might trigger various problems such as the inability to record videos, internal and external storage issues as well as call quality issues to name just a few. It is up to you to see if it is worth to try out the new Android firmware on your brand new Samsung S4.

Source: TeamAndroid