[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] spearoid:
WARNING If you are a diehard AOSP fan that never intends to use a TW ROM again, please hit your back button immediately or do not post in this thread with reasons why people should just use an AOSP ROM. If an AOSP ROM now fully supports USB audio-out or MHL HDMI-out and you want to let the readers know, that would be good info. But this thread is NOT meant to debate the pros and cons of AOSP and TW ROMs. This thread is specifically for the people who know they need a TW ROM for its complete hardware support of our phone but would like to get their TW ROM to look, function, and feel as much like an AOSP ROM as they can.

UPDATE: While most of my OP still could apply, a few things have changed.

1) It is now possible to use an exFAT SD card on AOSP ROMs thanks to HMkX2 and this thread

2) I have moved to SynergyROM and LOVE it. Several of the AOSP apps linked to below are incorporated into the aroma installer of [URL="http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1792499"]this ROM.[/URL]

3) The work andybones did to make CleanROM look like an AOSP ROM was awesome and he has also done this theme work for SynergyROM here.

The primary issue I had in this OP was the lack of exFAT support on AOSP. That is no longer the case, but I have come to find other shortcomings in AOSP ROMs (HDMI support, USB audio support, difficulty in low signal areas, camera quality) that have brought me back to TW after a 3 week stint trying AOSP with exFAT support.

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This is intended to help anyone who was in the same boat as I was until recently regarding the struggle between AOSP and TouchWiz. I decided I would post a compilation of what I've found on XDA to maybe make it easier on the next guy who was on the same quest I was on.

I came from an Android phone where I ran AOSP (CM10 or AOKP). I loved this GS3 but hated so many things about Touchwiz. Admittedly, a lot of the hatred was toward the look of TW. I felt like I was using premium hardware on a Gingerbread ROM because of how ugly and outdated the TW interface is. But there were a few more legitimate complaints I had with TW. In my opinion, AOSP 4.2 has a much better clock, a much better email client, a much better lockscreen, and a much better texting program than stock TW. I actually think the AOSP camera is nicer in several ways too but there are some reasons why the TW camera is nice too.

So I tried AOSP roms for the TW and they were gorgeous and had the AOSP 4.2 apps I wanted, but there were some sacrifices I ultimately decided I could not make. Most specifically, the lack of exFAT support for my SD card. I have a 64 GB card. I use Google Play Music. This music app allows you to locally cache your entire collection if you want, but it stores that data on your internal memory and gives you no option to choose your SD card. Hopefully this last sentence will become invalid over time when Google sees fit to implement this option. My collection is too big for my internal memory. However, you can use symbolic links (through Rom Browser) to redirect the internal memory storage to your SD card so that your entire music collection can be in sync with your cloud and locally cached on your SD Card. Well symbolic links do not work on FAT32. At the time the AOSP camera also could not store its data on the SD card (this might still be the case) which meant on AOSP, my internal memory was going to fill up very quickly. Additionally, I use Windows Media Center to record shows and like to put those on my SD card and watch them later with MX Player. Well these recordings are always larger than 4 GB and in the AOSP world where FAT32 is required for your SD card, a file larger than 4 GB is non-transferable.

So, I am on Touchwiz, and for the first time since owning this phone, I have found a way to get the perfect (ok, almost perfect) blend of AOSP beauty and function with TW function and exFAT support.

Here are the things I've found on this wonderful forum to make me feel like I'm on AOSP while sacrificing almost nothing!

First, I use scrosler's amazing CleanRom: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1832070

It is the winner for me on stability and battery. There are not a lot of frills, but it is rock solid. Everything just works.

Second, I use andybones's beautiful AOSP theme specifically designed for CleanRom. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2122219

I cannot overstate how impressive this theme is to me. The work was meticulous and the extent to which andybones themed elements of TW seems to be completely thorough. I believe I could hand most Android fans my phone right now and they would believe I have a Nexus device or an AOSP rom on my GS3. The most impressive thing about this theme is that it displays contact photos at their proper proportion in your notification curtain. If you use any AOSP apps or 3rd party apps that show contact photos on notifications, TouchWiz, by default, squishes these images....and it looks terrible. This theme solves that problem.

This theme also gives you the AOSP lockscreen. The clock font is not the AOSP font, and I wish it was, but I still like this lockscreen much better than the TW one.

His thread also offers the systemui.apk update based on the most recent leak that allows you to do a two-finger swipe to expand/contract notifications in the curtain, rather than the pinch. I think this is a big improvement, although I do wish there was a way to get the one-finger swipe back that is present in AOSP.

Third, and finally, I install several apps and flash several zips that, in my opinion, have completed this quest of mine.

AOSP MMS, fully working, for CleanRom 5.6. Thank you loserskater! http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2102156

AOSP Email Thanks to jimbotron and shiftr182 http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1962097

AOSP Clock. I tried using the actual AOSP 4.2 clock but no matter what I tried, the ongoing notifications of this clock (the primary reason I wanted it) crash the app. But I discovered Clock JB+ on the Play Store, and it seems to be a direct replica of the 4.2 app, with some added features and options. It cost .99 but it was very much worth it to me. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moblynx.clockjbplus&hl=en I removed the TW clock app entirely and use this one as my alarm clock, timer, and stopwatch.

The other app that is essential, and probably the most essential, is Nova Launcher. Not only does it follow the Holo design of AOSP, if you buy the Prime version there are all sorts or additional features and functions available.

I also use exDialer from the Play Store with an ICS theme, though the AOSP theme mentioned above does theme the TW dialer.

I think that covers it for me.

Through Directory Bind and Symbolic links, I have all my huge video games and my huge music collection stored on my 64 GB card, and through the links above I have a phone that looks beautiful and functions like AOSP on a rock solid and stable TW build!

I know there are a lot of others whose worked contributed to the links I've posted above. I know Didact74 has done amazing work to make TW a better experience in so many ways, many of which were incorporated into the theme I use. Thanks to him too! Thanks to all the other great devs and contributors that have made this phone even more awesome than it already was! Give thanks to the original posters in those links if they have helped you!