Owners of the HTC Incredible S had to wait nearly a year before HTC officially served the handset some Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) with HTC Sense 3.6.  But, the OTA upgrades came hot on the heels of the new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that came out just a few weeks after HTC started pushing the ICS updates for the Incredible S.  And, now, handset owners want the next big thing, and their biggest question is “When can I get Jelly Bean for my Incredible S?”  And, the big answer is: right now — at least not officially from HTC.

Thanks to a port of the Codename Android ROM, your HTC Incredible S can now enjoy Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, courtesy of XDA Developers member nikhil007mmus who made the port.

The ported ROM lets you have a try at the Android 4.1.1 capabilities on your HTC Incredible S despite the lack of an official update. Codename Android ROM is based on Jelly Bean, which means it also has Jelly Bean's great features and nifty interface layout which make it worth the experience.  As always, you can expect bugs and issues, the most notable of which are force closes in the Camera app when the front camera is used, issues with LED notifications, some issues with Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Hotspot, and a few more.

This guide shows you how to upgrade the HTC Incredible S to Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean via Codename Android custom ROM.

Warning

• The instructions in this guide are intended for use with the HTC Incredible S. Applying these instructions on another device or model may produce undesired outcomes.
• The information in this guide is provided for instructional and educational purposes only. There is no guarantee that these instructions will work under your specific and unique circumstances.
• Use these instructions at your own risk. We shall not hold any responsibility or liability for whatever happens to you or your device arising from your use of the info in this guide.
• Read and understand the whole guide first before actually performing the instructions.

Requirements

• HTC Incredible S with S-OFF and with ClockworkMod Recovery installed
• Download the following:
  • Codename Android ROM for HTC Incredible S (Codename-Android-3-NIGHTLY-09022012-VIVO.zip, 129 MB)
  • GApps (Google Apps) package (gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip, 83.1 MB)
• Make sure your device's battery still has at least 70% power. You don't want the device to shut down in the middle of the procedure.
• Backup all personal data on your phone to make sure you have a copy of your personal data (e.g., contacts, SMS, MMS, Internet settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and the like) in case the procedure in this guide erases such data.
  • For backup tips, check our guides on how to sync your data to the cloud and how to create local backups of your mobile data.

Instructions

1. Copy the Codename Android ROM package and the GApps to your phone's internal SD card.
2. Turn off the phone.
3. Hold Volume Down and Power buttons until the device boots up to the bootlader or HBOOT Mode. Using the Volume keys, highlight the RECOVERY option and press Power to select it.
4. Select Wipe data/Factory reset and confirm the reset.
5. Select Install zip from sdcard > Choose zip from sdcard.  Scroll to the ROM file on the SD card.  Select the ROM file and confirm that you want to install it.
6. Repeat step 5, but this time, install the GApps package.
7. Return to main recovery menu.
8. Select Reboot system now to restart your phone.

Congratulations on successfully installing Jelly Bean-based Codename Android on your HTC Incredible S.