Samsung no longer included the Galaxy S4, its 2013 flagship smartphone, on the roster of its mobile devices to receive Google’s latest mobile operating system, the Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The mobile OS of Samsung Galaxy S4 has been officially updated by the Korean tech giant up to the Android 5.0 Lollipop which it made early this year, or a few months after the upgrade officially rolled out in November last year.
Considering how popular the Samsung Galaxy S4 is and the millions of users holding on to the device even if it is already more than two years old, XDA developers immediately recognized the need to update it to have the latest Android mobile OS.
Thus, even when Samsung no longer released an official update after Android 5.0 Lollipop, custom ROMs based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop and Android 5.1 Lollipop were developed and released during the year.
Not stopping with the official update
But the custom ROM updating of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has not stopped with the Android 5.1 Lollipop as a new custom ROM based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop was developed and released early this month.
The custom ROM is called OrionLP and it has become available and ready for installation to Samsung Galaxy S4 bearing the model number I9500, details the Latin Post.
Galaxy S4 users can check the variant or model number of their units by going to the phone’s setting and checking on About Phone where they can see the model number as one of the information available about the device.
With the availability of the custom ROM based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop for the Samsung Galaxy S4, it is likely that a custom ROM based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow will also be developed a few months after Samsung completes the release of the update on its latest mobile devices early next year.
By March next year, the Samsung Galaxy S4 would be three years old and the arrival of a new custom ROM based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow would only reinforce its reputation as one of the most, if not the most popular and durable flagship smartphone of the Korean tech giant.
Raised the bar among flagship smartphones
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the better flagship smartphones of the Korean tech giant. In fact, it has raised the bar so high that when the Samsung Galaxy S5 came out last year with very little improvements from the Galaxy S4, it became Samsung’s biggest undoing.
Apart from losing its grip to the reputation as the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer to Apple last year, Samsung also experienced three successive quarters of falling revenues for the very first time.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 continues to be a desirable smartphone to many of its loyal users.
The 2013 flagship smartphone of the Korean tech giant still looks pretty smart and still is a very capable handset, but its age started to show when it was among the last few devices that got the Android 5.0 Lollipop, when it officially rolled out in November last year.
While it is a great-looking smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is actually unrecognizable when compared to both its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3, and successor, the Samsung Galaxy S5, unless a thorough scrutiny is made, notes GSM Arena.
The Galaxy S4 has the usual white plastic finish but looking up close, one could see the fine diamond pattern beneath the glossy surface. The feature offers a nice touch, subtle enough to avoid being considered as merely a bling. It also prevents attraction of fingerprints and smudges so users can do away with the usual regular polishing to keep it clean. The silver trim on the edges also gives it the metal look, but the material is also plastic.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 4.99-inch display screen and is surprisingly svelte. The smartphone has a dimension of 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 millimeters and weighs only 130 grams.