Your contacts are linked to your gmail account, so you won't loose them. I would sync them before just to make sure. Your apps are also linked the same way. Both will load when you sign back in to your account. Making a backup in recovery or Titanium wouldn't hurt. If you use LauncherPro or ADW you can also backup your home screens. Makes setting up your phone easier. Swyped from a Droid
As far as contacts go, I've never had a problem with them not loading. All my contacts r linked to my gmail account, not the phone account. So on start up when i set up the email, all the contacts load. However, i've had problems with all the apps loading. IDK y, but for some reason Only the ones I paid for load, none of the free ones. *shrugs* not a big prob since it's the free apps, so I never bothered to figured out y lol.
