In a bid to get Google Now goodness on my Samsung Galaxy S2 I have decided to upgrade to Android 4 Jelly Bean . Waiting for Samsung to update anything is about as productive as watching grass grow, so I have opted to install a Cyanogen rom.

I have been using Cyanogen roms since their early days with good results. They provide the latest tech, are stable, add a bunch of efficiency improvements and come with some nice UI extras (but luckily not the bloated overlayers that manufacturers sometimes add). I am currently using an old ICS nightly build which has been so good I never felt the need to switch to the release version when it became available.

If you want to update your phone to the latest Jelly Bean goodness read on… be warned, by doing so, you risk bricking you device, voiding your warranty etc etc.

Download Cyanogen Jelly Bean

• Download the Cyanogen nightly ROM from http://download.cyanogenmod.org/. Be careful to select the correct one for your handset. The one I used for my Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 (the non-nfc, non-carrier, international version of the S2) was http://download.cyanogenmod.org/get/jenkins/12355/cm-10-20121112-NIGHTLY-i9100.zip
• Download CyanogenMod 10 Google Apps from http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Latest_Version#Google_Apps

NOTE: Save these files to your internal device storage (not external SD card)
NOTE: Perform an MD5 check on both files.

Install ClockworkMod Recovery

If you are installing a non-custom ROM for the first time or you do not have ClockworkMod >=5.5.0.4 Recovery installed, visit the Cyanogen Samsung Galaxy SII Update Guide and follow the instructions under:

• Make a backup
• Installing the ClockworkMod Recovery

You should still perform the following backup step.

Make a Backup Image of Your Handset

Getting Started:

• Switch your phone off
• Boot into recovery mode (Hold down the Volume Up, Power and Home buttons until the Recovery screen appears).

In Recovery mode you can use the Volume buttons to navigate and the Power button to make a selection. Now:

• Select backup and restore
• Select backup
• Select reboot system now

Once your phone has rebooted, turn usb storage on and copy the backups to your pc.

Install Cyanogen Jelly Bean

Switch your phone off and boot into recovery again.

In Recovery mode:

• Select wipe cache partition
• Select Yes – Wipe Cache
  
• Select install zip from sdcard
  
• Select choose zip from sdcard
• Select the cm nightly zip that you downloaded earlier e.g cm-10-20121112-NIGHTLY-i9100.zip
• Select Yes – Install
• Wait for the installation to complete
• Select choose zip from sdcard
• Select the google apps zip that you downloaded earlier e.g gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip
• Select Yes – Install
• Wait for the installation to complete
• Select +++++Go Back+++++
• Select Reboot System Now

Now wait for your new system to boot and enjoy!