Installing Android 4.2.2 For Samsung Galaxy Ace 2

A fairly common source of frustration with legacy Samsung devices is that they are often skipped over for Android updates due to incompatibility with things that have little to do with Android, such as Samsung’s proprietary and much-maligned TouchWiz UI. Fortunately, the CyanogenMod team leaves no man behind, and that apparently includes Galaxy Ace 2 owners. 

As always, DroidReport assumes no liability for the firmware installation, so if your phone gets bricked, it’s on you.

Before Getting Started

Before you get started, make sure that your Galaxy Ace 2 is rooted and bears the GT-I8160 model number.

As always, you want to backup your device and charge it to at least 80 percent.

Finally, enable USB Debugging mode by navigating to Settings -> Developer Options.

Updating Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (I8160) to Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2

1) Download CyanogenMod 10.1, as well as the Google Apps package, which can be found here and here.

2) Using your USB cable, connect your Galaxy Ace 2 to your computer.

3) Copy the CM10.1 build and the Google Apps package to the root folder of your handset’s SD card.

4) Boot your phone into recovery mode by pressing the Volume Up and Home buttons while simultaneously tapping the Power button until an icon of a green robot appears.

5) Open CWM recovery and perform the following steps: wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache partition, wipe dalvik cache and system format.

6) From CMW recovery, navigate to Install Zip from SD card and choose the ROM extracted earlier from the CM10.1 .zip archive.

7) Your device will now begin installing the firmware, which should take approximately 5 minutes. Do nothing until the process is complete.

8) Select Reboot System Now when the option appears. Your Galaxy Ace 2 will reboot and you’ll officially be running Android 4.2.2 CM10.1. Kudos.