Author’s Note (2025):
This post is a retro follow-up to my original review of the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2, published on my old WordPress.com blog on March 23, 2014. After nearly two years of using the device, I revisited my impressions to reflect on how it performed over time and explored custom ROMs to extend its usability. The text has been translated from Croatian to English using machine learning while preserving its original tone and observations.
Revisiting the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 – Two Years Later
Yes, that’s right… This is a new take on the well-known review I published over a year and a half ago. The reason for this follow-up is to correct some details that were accurate at the time of the original review but are no longer true.
Let’s start with some good news that emerged over the past year (specifically around July 2013). You’re probably wondering what happened then? The answer is simple: the first custom ROM with Android 4.1 and later versions was released—and yes, the camera features worked properly! 😀 Until then, everything revolved around waiting for Samsung’s official update. Of course, this was during the era of kernel 2.x, which made fixing bugs relatively easier.
Shortly after that, ROMs (including CyanogenMod) based on Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.2 and 4.2.2) started appearing. In October—if I remember correctly—the first 3.x kernel for Jelly Bean ROMs was released. Then in December came an interesting ROM… At that time, I was using Jelly Bean 4.2.2 based on CyanogenMod 10.1 😉. That ROM was CyanogenMod 11, based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
Yes, you read that right—this little budget phone got support for the latest Android OS at the time! It even supported some graphical effects like screen transparency in certain launchers and apps. This transparency could be enabled by editing the build.prop file, but that’s a task for advanced users.
With the latest builds of CyanogenMod (10.x-11) and OmniROM-based ROMs on Android 4.4, there was one persistent bug: video recording didn’t work, although photo capturing did.
In recent days, development has also been focused on an Ice Cream Sandwich ROM known as CyanogenMod 9. It seems that everything works flawlessly on this ROM. For those who need speed and a near-stock Android experience, I recommend ICS and CM9.
For those who don’t want to experiment like I did, I recommend sticking with the official Gingerbread ROM—but it must be rooted and overclocked for optimal performance.
Now for some bad news: as I mentioned in my original review, Samsung had promised an official Jelly Bean update (Android 4.1.2) for this device… but I was wrong about that. Scumbag Samsung didn’t deliver on their promises! :/
My Current Setup (from 2014)
Here’s what my phone configuration looked like back then:
ROM: CyanogenMod 11 by TheWhisp (privately optimized with built-in GApps—not shareable) Kernel: 3.4.79 from the ROM itself Overclock: Yes, default CM11 settings Recovery: ClockWork Mod 6.0.4.5 by TheWhisp Other: Tons of tweaks and customizations
Final Ratings
Community Support: 10/10
The community around this phone has been fantastic in keeping it alive with custom ROMs and updates long after official support ended.
Official Support: 5/10
Samsung’s lack of promised updates significantly hurt its reputation for this device.
Overall Rating: 8/10
The lack of official support brings down what could have been a higher score after almost two years of usage.
Acknowledgment:
This post was reviewed, proofread, and refined with the assistance of Perplexity AI Pro from Revolut Ultra Subscription and the o3-mini Reasoning model within Perplexity AI Pro. Their support helped bring this retro throwback to life while preserving its original spirit and style while translating it into English.
Cover image was recovered from personal old Instagram archives (from old archival media’s like DVD’s, archival offsite HDD’s and NAS) and upscaled to 1080p using Microsoft PowerToys Image Resizer Tool.