I 'm likely to get an S4 through work soon and the talk about the Google Experience Launcher on ...

[G+_Mark Johnson]

I'm likely to get an S4 through work soon and the talk about the Google Experience Launcher on AAA 131 got me wondering what tips people had to make an AT&T S4 less Touchwizzy and more Googly. Note that it will be locked down to some extent (no root).

[G+_Joseph Cappellino]

Just get the Google Play Edition of the S4 available via the Google Play Store and works on AT&T.

 

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=samsung_galaxy_s4

[G+_Mark Johnson]

Well I get a free phone through work if I get the AT&T S4 Joseph Cappellino  but if I want the Play version I get to pay myself and I don't care that much.

[G+_Joseph Cappellino]

Mark Johnson - Then your only other option is to install as many third-party apps as possible.

 

Custom Launcher: Nova, Apex, soon-to-be-announced Google Experience Launcher

 

Camera/Gallery:  There is an APK around somewhere that allows you to install the Google Play version.  This gives you the default camera and gallery apps.  The TouchWiz camera is "better", but the stock Gallery app is leaps and bounds better than TouchWiz.  This will probably be released in the Play Store at some point.

 

Messaging:  I think TouchWiz wins here, but there are plenty of third-party messaging apps like Handcent and ChompSMS that are good.  But, the rumor is that Hangouts will also be a Messaging replacement, too (which will be awesome).

 

Contacts/Dialer:  You're SoL here.  This was the only thing I couldn't find a decent replacement for when I was running TouchWiz.  Sure, there are third-party apps, but none of them are the stock People app.  Hopefully, Google will release this as well.

 

Calendar: Google Calendar from the Play Store.  Nuff said.

 

Email:  Again, the TouchWiz version is better than most anything freely available in the Play Store, but there are many options like K9Mail and TouchDown.

 

I hope this helps!

[G+_Mark Johnson]

Thanks Joseph Cappellino 

I also found a couple of articles which might at least help optimize TW a bit:

http://www.androidbeat.com/2013/07/optimising-samsungs-touchwiz/

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2251491

[G+_Santos Cardona]

Joe Jonas Mark Johnson Focal is the camera app from CM that's similar to the Google camera. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.xplod.focal?. I use Nova Pro as my replacement launcher on my S3. I don't use it as a phone though. What's everyone's problem with touchwiz? I don't see what the big deal is.

[G+_R.C. Curtright]

You can use Quicker to copy the tiled settings drop down. I don't recall if the S4 had that feature, but my s3 didn't. You can put an icon in the upper right corner of each home screen, then use Simple Text to make them invisible. Tap on the magic invisible button in upper right corner and Bam! quick settings panel appears. I added several tile screens so I could avoid the touch Wiz settings as much as possible.

 

Also don't forget Google keyboard. 

 

Additionally, the ability to disable apps and make them basically disappear from the app drawer is pretty cool. If there are apps you are afraid to disable, you can also use Nova Launcher to hide them.

 

Santos Cardona  just personal taste I guess. I had a friend tell me that his Moto Blur was better than stock too. I don't get it, I had a Nexus once and went to an s3 and hated it. I find the electric blue on dark grey/black very appealing and hated the bubbly skeuomorphic stuff all over the s3.

[G+_Santos Cardona]

R.C. Curtright to each their own. I have a Nexus 7 2012 and for what I do, I don't see much of a difference with the S3. Gaming, social media, feebly, chat are the same on both.