For those of us who thought the Galaxy S4 was a step up in smartphone specifications, there is the slow realization that Samsung have done more than that - so much more, if it delivers the range of features and services promised.
In fact you could argue that the worst aspect of the S4's launch in New York last week was the way Samsung under-sold the phone.
I'm talking about Samsung's phone as an exercise in innovation.
If your taste only runs to hardware specs then good luck to you. If you like to look at how companies set a new cadence for innovation and begin building a new paradigm, at pace, look no further than the S4.
Take John Gaudiosi's claim here on Forbes earlier that the S4 will compete with the Playstation 4. EA will have 16 games lined up for the S4 launch in April. Gamers will use Samsung's snap on controller.
But the S4 is also a link to your television (and Samsung makes smart TVs) and not just for games, where John says it will compete with the new XBox and the Playstation.
On the S4 microsite Samsung says the phone "suggests different programs based on your preferences, provides program schedules, and does the channel surfing for you. The Samsung GALAXY S4 even allows you to remotely control the TV or setup boxes."
Eric Mack over on CNET also noticed this about the games' controller:
What's perhaps most interesting about this fairly standard little controller, however, is one little note that's currently on the Game Pad page on Samsung's Galaxy S4 microsite. It notes "4"~6.3" screen size available," which is curious because Samsung's biggest phone at the moment is the Note 2 with a screen size of 5.5 inches.
That is food for speculation right there. Is Samsung planning an even larger phablet?
So we are going to see more integration across Samsung devices, including TVs, as well as more device innovation.
Commentators were fast onto the more obvious features like the dual camera functionality. But did we take enough notice of the gesture control? By moving beyond touch, Samsung may well have preempted what Apple felt was its own special territory and usurped its role as king of the interface, which is no mean feat.
I wonder, as well, if this opens up the opportunity to move the smartphone towards a distributed object, with the processing power staying in your pocket and the interface appearing on different surfaces.
And I've said a couple of times, they have done the right thing by stepping up their game in health monitoring. Samsung is laying the foundations for a new generation of services.
The S4 looks like being not just a connected device but a connecting device.
And it has contactless payments embedded in the phone initially with Visa and configured in such a way that Samsung will grow its database on its worldwide users. Samsung also innovates in the barcode reader it is using, according to mobile payments today
Along with NFC payment capabilities, the device includes a new, and pretty innovative, take on the standard, old-school 1-D barcode. It's called mobeam technology and it addresses some of the issues facing barcodes as a mobile payment technology, and mobile payments in general.... And that may solve another problem facing mobile payments: merchant adoption of new technology. The problem with traditional barcodes is that when they are rendered on a smartphone, screen glare can prevent a scanner from reading them correctly. To accept NFC payments — or even 2-D barcodes like those used by Starbucks — retailers will have to make an investment in new point-of-sale terminals. Mobeam works with the scanners already in use by many grocery stores, convenience stores and retailers.
The S4 is the first mobile device to use mobeam. And of course Samsung is taking it to Apple and Blackberry in the enterprise with is new Knox feature.
Weekend reaction to the S4, after the hype of the unpacking had died down, was much more positive than Friday morning's reaction, with many commentators warning that Apple needed to step up its own game, very quickly.
The drift of the coverage is that Samsung has taken the battle to Apple, and is out innovating Apple.
While Apple deliberates on the specifications for its iPhone 5S, Samsung has launched the S4, will soon launch a new Note phablet and has a new generation tablet out there too as well as becoming more adept at software updates. As CNN puts it:
Apple also isn't nearly as versatile at adding new software features to its devices. Apple usually makes users wait a year or more for a new version of iOS, and even then some older devices can't access all the latest and greatest features.
Newsday, too, focused on the need for Apple to increase the pace of innovation, quoting Forrester analyst Charles Golvin:
"If anything, what Apple needs to respond to is the cadence of their own releases. Probably a completely new design every two years and a sort of speed bump every year is not an adequate cadence for Apple to remain at the forefront of smartphone innovation today," Golvin added.
The real game changers in the S4 are Samsung's pace of innovation and the platform it is creating to challenge Apple in this crucial area of innovation - platform economics. How big a customer base can it build a relationship with, and keep in touch with, to become a central pillar in their lives?
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