[nucleardog]

"Well sure, my OS might have a rootkit, but I've replaced Internet Explorer with Chrome, so my online banking should be secure!"

The baseband has its own processor and, to my understanding, pretty much complete hardware control of the phone.

I don't deny that that the benefit is non-zero, but I think saying "it's not a silver bullet" is still overselling it. I think it would be more accurate to describe it as "It's all I can do, and it's better than nothing."