Link Safe

First up you’re going to need to find out if there's a build of CyanogenMod 12 for your device. Head to this URL bit.ly/1Ki3A15 and check if there’s an official build. There aren't loads of these yet so you're probably going to have to find an unofficial build. which means that it’s not 100 per cent checked and safe. You can find unofficial builds at this link: bit.ly/1EZQajF.

You will need to download the ZIP file and send it across to your unlocked device. Don't unzip the files on your computer, then connect your phone or tablet via micro USB and drag and drop the ZIP you've downloaded onto your device’s memory. Once it's moved over, you can disconnect the USB cable. Next, you will need to reboot your device to recovery mode.

Now you'll need to install the ROM from your memory in recovery mode. There are a number of ways to get to recovery mode, but the easiest is probably installing the Quick Boot app from the Play store. Once you’re in recovery mode, use TWRP to wipe the /data and /system partition of your phone or tablet. then hit the Install button and find the ZIP file you transferred.

You now need to reboot your device from recovery mode. There should just be a button marked Reboot. so tap on that. This first time of booting up a new OS can take some time, so be patient and leave it a while before getting panicky that you’ve bricked your device. Just to be on the safe side, make sure you’ve got a Nandroid backup ready to go before you start.

If you're a little wary about installing an unstable build of CyanogenMod on your device, you can take the easier route and stick a version of Cyanogen 11 on there instead. If you're running the right firmware you can do this with the handy CyanogenMod installer. Go to bit.ly/1edm2KZ on a PC or Mac and click on the Get Started button to get things in motion.

If your device isn't supported by Cyanogenmod there are ways to try and get the ROM up and running, but you’ll need Android SDK Tools, ADB and Fastboot to get it working. You'll also need a bit more know-how than we can cover here. The basics involve connecting your device to a PC and using ADB and Fastboot to wipe the memory before manually loading the ROM.