The Samsung Galaxy S4 might have been out for a while and it’s already been followed up by new devices, but the phone is far from dead yet and its owners still have various options at their disposal when they want to keep it up to date with more recent Android versions. When the device launched, it was offered with Android 4.2.2, but now it can be brought up to Android 5.0 Lollipop through the use of custom ROMs, so users who want to stay in touch with the current trends in the Android market have an option available to them.
Of course, using a custom ROM is not exactly straightforward and it comes with some caveats that have to be observed by the user. Most notably, the procedure has to be performed very carefully down to the last line, because otherwise it could potentially “brick” the phone and make it unusable until it’s been recovered by a specialist.
Nowadays it’s pretty hard to get to that state, admittedly, as the system has been designed to be very durable now and it can take a lot of effort to actually run into a problem with flashing an Android phone. But it’s important to observe the instructions carefully in any case, because flashing a custom ROM to an Android phone means voiding its warranty with pretty much every manufacturer. And because of this, the user won’t be able to get their device fixed for free if it does indeed get bricked.
There are various options available on the custom ROM market for the Samsung Galaxy S4 specifically, and users are advised to take the time and compare the different custom ROMs very carefully before they settle on anything specific. There are some subtle differences between certain releases that can make them more – or less – suitable for certain types of users. In addition, some ROMs are specifically optimized for certain devices, allowing their owners to get even more out of their phones and utilize their hardware to its full potential.
The current most popular solution for the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the SlimSaber custom ROM, and can allow users to go up to Android 5.0 and even above. There are some minor differences with the official release line, but the ROM is mostly true to the core Android experience and offers a lot to users who want to experience a more or less stock OS with some cool little additions. The ROM has been tested thoroughly by users and most are reporting great performance and high degrees of stability, even compared to the stock ROM that comes preloaded on the device. Of course, we don’t know how the situation is going to be in the future and how things could change once new versions are released, but we trust the ROM developers to keep developing new versions that improve the experience even more.
As usual, some preparations are in order before flashing a custom ROM – the user should backup all of their important data and make sure there is nothing left on the device that could be a problem if it gets erased, because flashing a custom ROM usually involves completely erasing the phone’s memory. It’s required for the procedure to work correctly, and some users who flash their phones more regularly even have an entire process that they follow to quickly and easily get their files to safety.