Replacing Samsung ROM with stock Android ROM?

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

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Galaxy S4 GT-i9505
Galaxy Tab 3 GT-P5210

Both run on Android 4.4.2

Now I'm not looking specifically to root these, but I would love to run stock Android on these so that they don't have the app clutter from Samsung and Orange/EE. My reasoning was also analogous to using the good ol' Msconfig in Microsoft Windows... less start-up clutter.

1. Is there a guide to these 2 devices? Are the methods device-specific? Is there any error margin if I 'brick' these devices?

2. Will a stock Android reverse the menu and back buttons? They're the two buttons on either side of the home button. My understanding is Samsung reverse these to that of stock Android. I would like to keep them Samsung's way round.

3. Will my Google Play apps need to be reinstalled? Not too much of a bother if that's the case - it's around half an hour to install everything.

4. When it comes to upgrading and selling, do I just use Samsung Kies on a PC to flash them back to a Samsung ROM?

Cheers :-)
 
I can answer a few...

1) Check XDA
2) No, the buttons should be mapped correctly
3) Yes, you will lose all system data. Before installing a new ROM you should always do a full wipe via recovery
 
1) XDA will have plenty of guides for both devices. Steps may vary. Bare in mind it won't be pure stock AOSP Android, they will be slightly different but usually for more stability/functionality.

2) No, it will stay the same. Unless you manually change it yourself...

3) As you're going from a TouchWiz based ROM to an AOSP based ROM, as they are very different from each other you will lost all personal data. Be sure to back up before doing this.

4) Not sure if Kies can, but Odin can flash the stock TouchWiz firmware. You can find stock Samsung TouchWiz firmware here: http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/

You need to bare in mind it's not like disabling stuff in MSConfig, it's more like installing a different version of Linux, or even a new OS. TouchWiz stuff is usually not compatible with AOSP stuff, and other manufacturer skins. They pretty much modified Android to the core to make it very different from AOSP and Google's Android (AOSP is Android Open Source which is pure stock Android, Google is with all the Google apps which I feel has significantly moved away from AOSP).
 
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Thanks guys, I've learnt a lot from this thread i.e. didn't know what AOSP was!

I will look at CyanogenMod and Odin (I have heard of Odin and XDA forums before). I think for now I'll take a good long read into XDA. I have been interested in PCs since 1999, quickly discovered shell replacements like Litestep. I kinda cottoned on that Touchwiz and replacements such as Go Launcher, Apex and Nova are a similar pursuit :-)

If I go from a Touchwiz ROM to an AOSP based one, will I still be able to replace the launcher? I tried the common ones as mentioned above and settled down with Apex.
 
You state your main motivation for wanting stock Android was to get rid of the some of the bloat that comes with the firmware you have installed ATM if you are overwise happy with touch wiz wouldn't it simpler you just root your current firmware and use something like titanium backup to freeze or even delete the apps you want rid off?
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
If I go from a Touchwiz ROM to an AOSP based one, will I still be able to replace the launcher? I tried the common ones as mentioned above and settled down with Apex.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can still use a different launcher no matter what type of ROM you're running. It's better to think TouchWiz as the core of Android and the home launcher as the home user interface, or start screen even.

Slimkat is another ROM you should try, I had it installed on my sister's Galaxy S2 and the difference was like night and day. Best to read through each ROM for each device though, they usually have a different "best" ROM depending on what developers are working on that device.
 
I use a Note II LTE for work and with 99% of the bloat disabled and Google Now Launcher it works pretty well, even with Touchwiz.

Would prefer AOSP, but it's not my phone so have to make do!
 
I've installed this S4 GPE ROM onto my S4, made a huge difference over the stock TouchWiz.

One thing to note, as you're already on 4.4.2, changing the ROM will trip "Knox", the inbuilt one-way fuse, so if you have any issues with the phone, Samsung will know that you've changed the ROM, even if you flash a stock ROM back on it.
 
Sorry for the hijack.

Are there any ROMs that allow the phone to stay un-rooted.

Having issues with CM 11 and the Barclaycard app.
 
You could de-root, or use a spoofer that pretends to Barclays that the phone is not rooted. Don't know if that'll work though, just something I heard.
 
For number 3 your best bet is to root it first, download super user and titanium backup and just backup all your apps(only the apps and not system data). Then when you install a custom rom just download titanium backup and restore all your apps. I'd also recommend paying the extra for titanium backup pro as it makes restoring much quicker.
 
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