14 DAY TRIAL // How about running the latest version of Android on a 5-year-old smartphone? Yes, the team behind CyanogenMod made it possible for Samsung Galaxy S II owners to install Android 6.0 Marshmallow on their devices without too much trouble.
Since none of the mobile phone vendors supports their flagship smartphones for more than two years, it's refreshing to know that groups like CyanogenMod exist to provide those who don't want to change their smartphones so often with the latest software updates.
Samsung Galaxy S II has been initially launched on the market back in April 2011. At that time, the smartphone was powered by Google's Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread operating system, but Samsung delivered a few updates that took the smartphone up to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
However, there were no official update beyond Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, so if you wanted to run Android 5.1 Lollipop or something newer, you would only be able to do that through unofficial channels.
Today, the CyanogenMod team announced that Android 6.0 Marshmallow is available for Samsung Galaxy S II through CyanogenMod 13 Nightly.
A low-end smartphone by today's standards
It's kind of strange to see such an old smartphone running the latest version of Android, but Samsung Galaxy S II is still a nice device specs-wise.
At the heart of the Galaxy S II stays a 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos 4210 processor, coupled with a Mali-400 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.
The smartphone packs either 16 or 32GB of internal memory and sports a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution.
Five years after its launch, Samsung Galaxy S II could easily go by as a low-end smartphone, but that will not stop those owning it from running the latest version of Android.
Speaking of which, if you still have the Galaxy S II in your possession and want to revive it, you can now download CyanogenMod 13 Nightly and flash it on the smartphone.