Amazon Kindle Fire Gets Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean AOSP ROM [INSTALL GUIDE]

Google's recent release of the Jelly Bean source code has helped developers to try their hands on the latest Android mobile OS for the first time. The source code has been released as part of the Android Open Source Project, encouraging developers to formulate new tools and custom ROMs for modding the software. Thanks to the AOSP-based Jelly Bean (4.1.1) ROM, you can now install the new OS on your Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.

With due credit to recognised XDA Developer, Hashcode, it is now possible to port AOSP based Jelly Bean ROM to Kindle Fire tablet. As the developer notes, users will require Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to successfully port Android 4.1.1 on Kindle Fire, while also fixing the Wi-Fi issue. ADB is a command line tool enabling users to communicate with an emulator or Android-powered device.

However, since the ROM is currently in beta stage, it does have a few notable glitches. Issues with HD codecs are found to affect users on YouTube and Netflix. With Texas instruments reportedly updating the libion code for Jelly Bean, it should help Hashcode in fixing this issue soon. Apart from the codecs issue, the screen over-rotates while changing position, besides turning on UMS in the ROM appears to be a major difficulty.

"We're releasing Android 4.1 in AOSP today. The name of the tagged release is android-4.1.1_r1," Google's Jean-Baptiste Queru writes in the Android Building Group, adding: "The name of the development branch is jb-dev. We recommend that you create new clients, even if you're working in the master branch. It'll make your clients smaller and faster to sync."

Kindle Fire is a budget-friendly tablet with free cloud storage service for Amazon-purchased content. It poses a serious challenge to the Google Nexus 7 in the budget tablet segment. It sports a 7in IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. It is powered by Texas instruments' (TI) OMAP 4 dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz. The device packs a PowerVR SGX540 GPU and ships with 512MB of RAM.

Here is a step-by-step guide to manually install the beta release of Jelly Bean (4.1.1_r1) on the Kindle Fire (Courtesy: Redmond Pie).

Before proceeding, please note that IBTimes UK will not be held responsible for any consequences resulting in loss of data or damage to device while following the steps. This tutorial is meant for reference purpose only and users should proceed at their own risk. As always, you should backup your important data to avoid data loss during the procedure.

Step 1: Download Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 ROM for your Kindle Fire. It's around 108MB and might be time consuming particularly on slower connections.

Step 2: Download Jelly Bean Gapps that needs to be flashed onto your device.

Step 3: Power off your device and boot into recovery.

Step 4: Flash the ROM/Gapps, which you downloaded in previous steps from ClockworkMod Recovery. Ensure you do a complete wipe of the data and cache.

Warning: Please note this step will erase your personal data, so make sure your important data is backed up.

Step 5: You are all done. Just restart your device from CyanogenWorkMod (CWM) and your Kindle Fire should automatically boot into Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1.

If you find issues with Wi-Fi after flashing, you just have to run the command: adb shell su fix-mac.sh and you are all set.

For further assistance, head over to the official thread at XDA Developers.