Quoting Russell Coker (russell@coker.com.au):
Also it's nice to see Android phones kicking Apple's butt. Android isn't a great open platform, but it's a lot better than iOS.
CyanogenMod's a huge improvement on factory-loaded Android where openness is concerned. Were I buying a smartphone, I would make sure CyanogenMod fully supports the hardware and plan on reflashing it immediately. In fact, 'don't trust preloads' seems like a good policy with pretty much any computing device, where feasible. http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ The Samsung Galaxy S III is a bit too new for the CyanogenMod developers to put it on the 'Supported Devices' roster, but the Galaxy S II is there. That having been said, FWIW: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III:_Full_Update_Guide (Nightlies of CyanogenMod 8 started working on the Galaxy S III in mid-June.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQU0GNOEwwA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsF02hBBK_I There are of course limits to CyanogenMod's openness, and not all of them are details of device drivers, e.g.: http://review.cyanogenmod.com/#/c/5677/ (Be sure to read the comments where the developers squirm over why they're rejecting a patch that gives users greater control over smartphone privacy.)