Obviously Samsung is thinking from a consumer prospective, but still very disappointing.
Are temperature and humidity really that useful? I know many Android phones have had them, but have they really be used? Do they really add much to the device?
On a second note I produce an app (http://www.ullrlabs.com) for avalanche danger evaluation and knowing your ambient air temperature is one factor which is helpful in that process. Though I haven't yet tried to read that value on android phones for the app.
[1]See pressure altimeter calibration equation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altimeter
In the short term these new sensors will provide more benefits to the consumer, but to the majority they will be something you use 1 or 2 times then forget about.
If temperature were useful, then humidity would be as well because then you could calculate local humidex.
Wait, what? Samsung is trying to make majority of customers happy and that's disappointing? This is what you are saying?
If you give me a new sensor, I might not have any ideas on how to make it useful, but if one developer has one good idea, that benefits me.
I think though, this gets to the heart of the problem with Samsung. They throw a lot of shit at the wall with no care for design or even how the thing is supposed to be lived with.
(FWIW, I think LG, Nokia and HTC are doing decent work in mobile.)