Samsung Hercules is the older brother of the Galaxy S II terminal and will be launched in North America in the next period. If you think that a 4.3-inch screen is big, then probably the 4.5-inch screen the new Samsung device is more than unsatisfactory for you. Those from Samsung follow the idea of "bigger is better", so it seems that the 4.5-inch device will be branded as a smartphone, although it is, in my opinion, much too big to be used as a phone. Of course, Samsung will launch a device with a 4.7-inch screen in the future, but we have to wait for the second half of 2012 to see the new device on the market.
Regarding the hardware specifications, the new Hercules does not differ from the Galaxy S II except in the fact that the 1.2 GHz dual-core processor is made by Qualcomm and in the fact that it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 42 Mbps via HSPA+. Practically, Samsung launches a new device only 4 months after the launch of the Galaxy S II, and certainly those who bought the Galaxy S II are happy with the way Samsung chooses to launch the terminals. Probably by the autumn we will see a few more versions of the Galaxy S II, but under other names and maybe with larger screens so that in the end we reach the last tablets and we would walk around with "plates" in our ears, as Samsung thought that Samsung Galaxy Tab users will do.
Will Hercules be a competitor for the iPhone 4? It will certainly compete with the iPhone 5 without problems, but I don't know how it will do in terms of sales once the new Apple terminal is launched. A 4-inch screen on the iPhone would be more than welcome, but I hope that Apple does not take over the "successful model" of those from Samsung and launch a new version of the same device every 4 months.
