Hey guys-- new to the forums (and android), so go easy on me please!
I'm looking to remove TouchWiz and have as "factory" of an android OS as possible. Is this done through installing a different ROM? Which ROM should I go with? If I "brick" my phone, is it easy to recover back to factory AT&T settings?
Thanks!
Welcome to Android. TouchWiz is a pretty crappy system in my opinion, so I agree with your decision to try something new. When you say "factory", do you mean you want it to be as close to what it is now as possible?
You basically have two options to get away from it TouchWiz. The first is what you already mentioned; flashing a different ROM. There are limitless ROMs out there that use different launchers than TW. Flashing a new ROM is quite a task though if you're not familiar with it, so this isn't something you just want to jump into without reading up on it first. Personally, I'm a big fan of ROM switching. I've used several different ROMs with the most recent and current one of Serendipity 6.3. It really unleashes all of your options in your phone. In order to flash a new ROM, you either have to have your phone rooted, or the ClockworkMod Recovery zip on your phone.
[APP]SuperOneClick v1.7 (Root, Unroot, Enable Non-Market App) - xda-developers. This is a nice, easy way to root.
The other way to get rid of TW is to just install an app for a new launcher. The two biggest ones out there are ADW Launcher and LauncherPRO. They both have their great merits. A lot of ROMs come built in with LauncherPRO, but you can download either of them for free without having to go through the process of flashing ROMs. The nice thing about these apps is that they really let you customize how you want your phone to be set up.
As for the bricking, there's not really a good answer for your question. A lot of times you can brick your phone and have it reset as good as new with the Odin reset tool. It flashes your entire phone back to the way it was out of the box. Be advised though, running Odin, rooting your phone, and flashing new ROMs all void your warrant. You'll definitely want to do some research before you make a decision either way.
