It has a big screen and fancy processor, but it's still Android, and until that blemish is removed, Samsung will always be a second rate cell phone manufacturer.
I say this as someone that will only buy Samsung in almost every other category.
It's because comparing hardware specifications is easy - it's quantifiable, it's numbers, and techies are familiar with them. How do you objectively compare the effect on that hardware on the software experience, and the quality of the software experience itself (qualitative)?
FWIW, ICS (Android 4.0) is a big step in the right direction compared to earlier versions, especially when it comes to making the most of the hardware underneath.
iPods do video? No-one wants their iPod to do video... [pause] One more thing... iPod now does video
Single core, dual core? No-one cares, it's about the experience... [pause] One more thing... the 4S is now dual core!
because not everyone buys Apple's stories.
And Apple talks about Specifications all the time. If they have a lower resolution screen than the competition, they don't talk about it. But as soon as they manage to ship a competitive high resolution screen themselves, they make it the center of their complete ad campaign.