I can pretty much make a case of not needing NFC... It would be on the phone and I would not use it. That's just how much I care. But there's worse : even if I intended to use it, I'd choose the iPhone 5 without it over any other smartphone that has it. I'll never have a cheap plastic box as a smartphone. Do you know how much the Note is worth now? How much the SII LTE is worth? The Nexus? How much the SIII will be worth in three months? It already went down. They'll give the goddamn thing at the end of a year cycle. Money is not the point, but value is. There's none to have with Samsung's devices. All these devices were the hot thing, packed with the newest features, when they came out four seconds ago. If THAT's the future, well it'll be a mess, won't it?
What annoys me about those annoyed Android users you're talking about, when they say that without Android there would be no evolution, is how dead wrong they are. LTE and CDMA in one chip. Twice faster processor half the size of the former generation - apparently developped by Apple. Nano sim. Single layer screen technology. Insane battery life over LTE. THAT'S evolution. Integrating already existing technology just to pack the most features is nothing hard. Developping new one is what counts. Having a camera take 20 pictures in 5 seconds and choose the best one is just another program, something we could probably get with a jailbreak tweak - but why would I use that? On the other hand, having the same tiny processor for both the HD front camera and the Full HD back camera - with the ability to take pictures while recording, just a nice addition - in order to save space and help creating one of the thinnest, most advanced phone out there with the less real estate inside, that's saying something.
With all due respect.