The colorless, toxic gas chemical compound Cyanogen is also the name of one of the most popular Android mods out there. Cyanogen takes Android based phones and releases end-to-end core, front-end, and in-between modifications to Android based phones in an effort to fully customize your phone to what you use your phone for most. There are many spectrum’s of phone users, those who need extremely fast and high battery life to those who need ultra crisp and fancy graphics and 3d, to those who need a full set of component functionality and all those in between.
This is an example of what groups like Cyanogen produce. They now have releases to over 60 individual types of phones and all sorts of features that you would never see in stock phone models. Often times these stock Verizon and AT&T phones are loaded with junk software to make you spend more money and restrictions on tethering and hot spots which actually are built into original manufacturer specifications by default, later stripped by big carriers so they can make more money.
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod