Yeah I agree with you that it's not exactly tiny. I think it's just the idea of there being only 4 full zones that makes it sound small.
Sega's Ken answered some of my questions. He said that the HA reticule cannot be turned off though they may add a way to turn it off once the other episodes arrive.
He was also finally honest about the HA in that it isn't completely optional (In interviews, he said you could play through the game without it). I told him that they need to be more creative with the HA as they seem to have used it mostly to get past enemy chains.
Just played through Sonic 3 with Knuckles and some of the levels are really long. I hope that is the case with Sonic 4.
With Tails and Knuckles most likely returning, I hope they find a way to add alternative routes for them in episode 1. From what I've seen, episode 1 seems to have been made without future episodes in mind. Will be weird to see how they both play with S4's physics. 