Developer arter97 managed to merge portions of Cyanogenmod 12.1 code over the 12.0 base successfully and thus the Galaxy Note 3 users have a custom ROM to get the taste of Android 5.1 already. The ROM is not stable, and prone to bugs here and there, but when you Samsung’s 5.1 update OTA would certainly take an age, it’s not bad of a deal. No?

Developer says he’s drop the thread when the official builds from CM team are live, but that’s nothing to worry. Enjoy the Android 5.1 build right now, and if you don’t like it, simply downgrade your Galaxy Note 3 back using Samsung’s official firmware.

Supported Models of Galaxy Note 3
  • N9002
  • N9005
  • N9006
  • N9008
  • N9008S
  • N9008V
  • Also reported to work on Canadian Note 3
Bugs

There could be many nifty ones, but here are some already pointed out.

  • Alarm
  • Text messages (whatsapp and hangouts work fine)
Download

Grab the ROM from its development page over here. Also download the Gapps, made for 5.1, here.

Installation

You need to have TWRP recovery installed for this. Google for it, it’s a must for this. Once you have it, download and transfer the ROM (and Gapps) to your device, then reboot into TWRP recovery and wipe data, cache, system and also dalvik cache. Next, install the ROM and let it boot, and settle for 5 mins. Reboot to recovery again and flash Gapps. Reboot, enjoy!