How To Install CyanogenMod 10 Alpha for the Samsung Galaxy W

AOSP loving Samsung Galaxy W (i8150) owners rejoice because CM10 has arrived, albeit in alpha form. With its 512 MB of RAM and single core processor, the Galaxy W is one of those devices that, according to some, would struggle to run Android 4.0—let alone 4.1. However, all that means to the developers here at XDA is, challenge accepted.

XDA Recognized Developer arco68 Recently released his unofficial version of CyanogenMod 10 for the device. Despite its alpha status, the build seems to pretty darn functional and should be usable on a daily basis unless you have some pretty specific needs. The list of features currently not working is fairly short, and extends only to WiFi tethering, Vsync (that’s buttery smoothness to you and me), and panoramic photos. However, some users are reporting issues accessing their SD cards at times.

CyanogenMod 10 Alpha Install Guide

Note: CM for Galaxy W is provided with no warranty. You are installing this software at your own risk. You may be violating your warranty.

Download CM10 and gapps-jb zips and put in /sdcard
  • 2012-11-20: CM10 alpha2 [DOWNLOAD] [MIRROR]
  • MD5SUM: D258C97FA8C8AF2A7029E02475F2AA00
  • Fixed wifi tethering
  • Fixed USB tethering
  • Fixed torch in power widget
  • Switched from legacy to native camera
  • 2012-11-14: CM10 alpha1 [DOWNLOAD]
  • MD5SUM: DE4E29478599F60A5581B818051EB771
  • Initial release
  • gapps UPGRADE REQUIRED

Please verify the md5sum to be sure you got the right one.

Before you install CM10: Preparation (First three are optional. If you want to start fresh, these can be skipped)
  1. Install AppBak from Market, run it and save a list of all your apps.
  2. Install SMS Backup and Restore from Market, run it and backup your SMS history.
  3. Install Call Logs Backup and Restore from Market, run it and backup your call log history.
  4. Boot into CWM5 recovery. Make a full backup. You will need this backup later if you decide to go back to your previous ROM and data.
WARNING: Many apps will Force Close crash if you restore data from a previous ROM.

How to Install
  1. Use CWM5 or CWM6.
    Warning: Only use this recovery to flash CM10. Otherwise, you risk bricking your phone!
  2. Wipe data and cache.
  3. Flash update*.zip.
  4. Flash gapps*.zip. You must flash gapps after every upgrade to CM10 since /system is formatted, wiping your previous add-ons.
  5. Reboot phone.
  6. After you setup your Google account, reinstall the three apps from Market in order to restore most of your apps, call log and SMS history.
  7. Warning: Do not restore backup data of system apps!
    If you restore a bad backup with cached settings in telephony.db in data/data/com.*.*.telephony it can break MMS.
    It seems that restoring backups can also break Calendar sync.
Upgrades
Upgrades from previous versions of CM10 are the same process as install, except you do not need to wipe anything. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to even wipe cache and dalvik-cache when upgrading between CM10 versions. You only need to wipe if you are doing a major upgrade, switching to a different ROM entirely, or attempting to fix bugs caused by bad backups or corrupt app data.
Original by XDA-Developers