Few days ago, a developer from xda forums announced the release of latest Android v4.1.1 based Cyanogenmod 10 custom rom for galaxy mini and I covered that news at this blog post. You can find details about latest Jelly Bean android software as well as the released beta 1 at the article.

Yesterday, again the developer released another update to this CM10 custom rom. With this update, few bugs that were found in previous version are fixed as well as a new kernel is introduced which should improve the performance of your handset. Below is a short change-log from the developers thread regarding Cyanogenmod 10 Beta 2  rom.

CM10 Jelly Bean Update Beta 2

Changelog :
1. New kernel - 2.6.35.14
2. Enabled triple buffering in the kernel
3. Fixed voice search
4. Fixed deep sleep
5. "Project butter" is now working a lot better
6. And other CM changes (theme support etc.)


So, as you can see that deep sleeping is now working and this is the best news for your battery. More battery life and more fun with the new update. Plus, latest CM source has been synced and now theme support is also available. All these changes and other improvements undoubtedly give you better taste of Jelly Bean. So, if you haven't already tried out the latest android operating system yet on your galaxy mini or pop s5570 smartphone, then it's the right time.

Download the rom from below and follow the flashing instructions given afterwards to get latest CM10 beta 2 on your galaxy mini.

Note : Those who have Gingerbread (Android 2.3 and above) can skip Step 1. Moreover, if you have any  Custom Recovery and/or  Custom Rom installed on your device then you can skip both Step 1 and Step 2.

1. Upgrade your firmware to Gingerbread using Odin Multidownloader v4.38
2. Install Clock Work Mod Recovery for Samsung Galaxy Mini/Pop.
3. Download required files and updates from below :
• Unofficial CyanogenMod 10 Beta 2 : cm-10-20120729-UNOFFICIAL-tass-beta-2.zip
• Official Google Apps for Jelly Bean : gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip
4. Copy the downloaded files to the (root directory of) your sd-card.
5. Reboot your device to Custom Recovery (Press Home + Power Button).
6. [Optional but, Recommended] Do a Nandroid Backup of your current rom.
7. Now from recovery main menu and select Wipe Data option.
8. Confirm data wipe by selecting Yes.
9. Now flash this android 4.1.1 jellybean based cyanogenmod 10 rom using clockwork mod recovery. Follow these steps :
• Choose Install Zip From Sd Card option.
• Select Choose Zip From SD Card option.
• Now select cm-10-20120729-UNOFFICIAL-tass-beta-2.zip downloaded in step 3.
• Confirm the installation and wait till the rom is installed on you handset.
10. Flash Latest Google Apps for Jelly Bean in CWM recovery.  
• Choose Install Zip From Sd Card option.
• Select Choose Zip From SD Card option.
• Now select the gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip file which you downloaded in step 3.
• Confirm the installation and wait till the zip is installed on you handset.
11. Reboot your device from your recovery main menu.

Note : If gapps from above doesn't work, use this one : Gapps-JellyBeans.zip 

That's all with it. You've successfully upgraded or installed latest android operating system on your Samsung Galaxy Mini or Pop S5570 smartphone. If you like the rom or want to find out more about it then, you may visit the developers thread and thank him for his contribution. Moreover, if you have any doubts or issues while flashing the firmware than do leave a comment at The Wall below.

Thanks to some of the website in the web such as sammobile.com and sampro.pl, some of the Samsung Android smart phones owners get lucky to mess with their handsets. These sites provide leaked firmware flashing tools (like Odin Multi Downloader and corresponding .OPS file) as well as various official stock firmwares for downloads for various Samsung smartphones. By using these tools, Samsung smartphone owners can upgrade/flash a firmware on their device, install custom clock work mod recovery and do many other things.

However, not all people are technically advance and thus can't do everything properly. They don't pay attention to the details and instructions and end up bricking their handset rendering it useless. So, it's necessary to be careful and follow all firmware flashing instructions carefully before trying out anything silly on  their handsets.

In this article, I'll list some of the problems/errors faced while using Odin and corresponding solution for these errors. But, before that here are few precautions to be taken while flashing firmware via Odin.

• Make sure your device is fully charged (At least 80 % of battery charge is recommended).
• Make sure proper drivers for your Samsung smart phone are installed on your PC.
• Note that you are using correct version of Odin Multidownloader tool and correct .ops or .pit file file for your handset. 
• Check the firmware details and find a upgrade for your current firmware. It's always recommend to flash firmware from your own region and your own country (if possible). While flashing firmware from other region will work fine, you should be careful not to flash provider specific firmwares on your sim unlocked phone or vice versa.
• Make sure that Samsung Kies is closed or disabled (or uninstalled). 
• Be sure to follow all the precautions and flashing instructions carefully.

1. Cannot open the usb serial port. code: 5 error

This error occurs when Odin can't access the port on which your device is connected. It can happen when your device drivers are not installed properly or when your smartphone is communicating with some other devices using the same port. To solve this issues make sure :

• Samsung USB drivers are installed properly. Fast and easy way to do this is install Samsung Kies (if you don't have it already.)
• Your device is connected properly in download mode.
• Samsung Kies (aka Kies PC) and all it's process are closed (not running in the background). You can freeze Samsung Kies or uninstall it.

It's recommended to close all other applications during flashing.

2. Odin says PASS, but, my phone is still not booting up. It only shows Samsung boot animation. 

Can't find the error you're facing. Just leave us the details at the comments below and we'll try to provide a solution to your Odin firmware flashing error.

Network Lock (aka. carrier lock or sim-lock) is a special type of lock on mobile phones that bind a particular handset with their network, rendering the owner unable to use the handset with other network providers. This is also the reason why the carriers provide phones for cheap, while the same cost more than double when bought a unlocked version (from other stores).

So, at one point or other everyone needs to get out of this restriction, either you're fed with the huge bills your carrier is charging you and want to switch to another carrier to cut down your bills or for other reasons or you simply want to avoid the huge roaming charges that can be incurred if you are planning to go out of you country for some whiles, there'll be the need to (network) unlock your handset.

Hence, to help you do just that with your carrier locked Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 smartphone, in this article I'll detail a easy and comparatively safer method to successfully unlock your android powered galaxy mini or pop smartphone. However, before trying the tutorial below, it is recommended that you ask your network operator for the sim unlock code, in most cases they will provide you this code (after you've been with contract to them for some while). If you're not provided with the code, then it's recommended that you follow the instructions below to unlock your galaxy mini s5570 smartphone.

Requirements

• Galaxy Mini handset : This is your Samsung galaxy mini gt-s5570 smartphone that needs to be unlocked. If you are unsure that your phone is network locked or not, then dial *#7465625# in your keypad to see if you are locked to any network or not. 
• Hex Editor app : This app will be used to edit the bml5.img file that we'll extract from your handset and look for the unlocked code on it. xvi32 is a easy to use simple software for windows PC that'll let you do this with ease. 
• bml5.img : This is the bml5 partition of your galaxy mini handset that we'll be extracting shortly (see detailed procedure below on how to get this file). This file contains your unlock code and we'll be looking for it using xvi32 app. 

Downloads

• Hex-Editor-xvi32.zip : A simple hex editor we're going to use in this process. You can use any that you prefer. 

Instructions

Extract the bml5 partition from your handset.

1. Make sure you've adb drivers installed on your handset. If not you read through this article to download and learn the basics of using adb. 
2. Make sure USB Debugging is enabled on your handset. To enable it go to Settings -> Applications -> Development and check USB Debugging option. 
3. Run command prompt on your PC. To do so, type command or cmd at Run prompt. 
4. Now browse to the folder that contain adb tools (adb.exe) using cd command and type the following commands.
   

   adb shell
   su
   cat /dev/block/bml5>/sdcard/bml5.img
   exit
   exit
   adb pull /sdcard/bml5.img bml5.img

   Here's a short explanation of what we did above. We used adb shell to get to the device's terminal and then obtain root access using su command. Then using cat command to put all the files in the bml5 (It's pronounced BE-EM-EL-FIVE) partition (which lies in /dev/block/ directory in galaxy mini) and put them in a image file named bml5.img in sdcard. Finally, we pulled the file to your PC for further processing.
   

   ADB Commands to extract bml5 partition and get it to your PC.

5. That's all. Close command window and follow the instructions in next step.

Now that we've obtained the file that contains the unlock code for your handset. All we have to do is look for it. Follow the instructions below to find the network unlock code using the hex editor from above.

How to get the unlock code for your galaxy mini s5570 handset?

1. Download and extract the xvi32 hex editor app from above.
2. Now run the xvi32.exe app.
3. Press Ctrl + O (or, Go to File Menu and then select Open ) and load the bml5.img file that we downloaded from your phone in the previous step.
   

Open bml5.img using File > Open menu.

4. Now go to Search Menu and select Find (or press Ctrl + F shortcut) and look for the following HEX string. Make sure to select Case Sensitive in Options, Down in Direction and Begin in Scope from fields in your search. (see image below).
   

   FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

Search HEX string using XVI32 Hex editor app.

5. Now keep searching by pressing F3 (or selecting Find again down option in Search Menu) until you find your eight digit unlock code in plain text surrounded by unknown characters at the right half of the hex editor app window (see image below). It might take your three to six searches (F3) to find the code.

A sample unlock code (it's always on the right part and of 8 characters)

6. That's all. Now that you've got the unlock code, note it down somewhere on your PC or a paper for later use and close everything else.

Now that you've the code, you can simply unlock your handset by inserting a foreign sim card (i.e. sim card from other carrier or provider) and when it pops for unlock code just put the network unlock code that you got from above in the fields and you should be able to use the new sim card.

That's all with unlocking your galaxy mini gt-s5570 smartphone. Please, note that this method is found to the working on other similar handsets like galaxy ace gt-s5830 and galaxy i5500. Also, while unlock code can be found in custom roms too, you can unlock the handset while running a custom firmware as the sim unlock dialog is removed from such roms and you won't get prompt to put in your unlock code.So, it is recommend that you flash a stock firmware while trying this out. However, stock based roms like emanoN might still popup the window to insert unlock code when you boot your handset with a sim from different carrier.

Many thanks to the xda-developer member AlkaDragos for sharing this working method with us. You can find more information at the original thread. If there are any doubts regarding the steps above then feel free to ask at the comments below. Happy unlocking and happy roaming!