S Pen

Some of the basic features of the current S Pen are:[4]

• Air View: stylus hovering on screen for quick information
• Direct Writing Input: to input in text fields using writing with the pen
• Screen Off Memo: taking notes without unlocking the screen
• PENUP: creating drawings using the pen and sharing them on the social network
• Live Messages: animations from handwriting[5]
• Translating text by hovering with the pen[5]
• AR Doodle, in the AR Zone

The S Pen was introduced with the Samsung Galaxy Note, the first "phablet", in 2011. The device had an active digitizer by Wacom, with 128 levels of pressure sensitivity.[6][7] The pen could replace the use of a finger in situations where precision is needed, but the device was also bundled with apps designed for use with the stylus. A button on the side of the pen can be used to activate special pen-oriented features and gestures in the system software.[6]

The second generation S Pen on the Samsung Galaxy Note II is slightly thicker than in the original Galaxy Note, and a feature marketed as Air View allows a user to preview content by hovering the pen over the content, similar to the hoverbox feature of a mouse in some desktop computers, such as thumbnails in the gallery and a preview tooltip on the video player's time seek bar, and zooming in the Internet browser (Samsung S Browser)[8][9] and for scrolling.[10] Another feature marketed as Quick Command reveals a list of available commands at the swipe of the S Pen.[11][12][13]

The S Pen's 1,024 levels of pen-pressure sensitivity give it significantly more accuracy and precision than the original Note's 256.[14][12][13]

The pen was updated to use a more symmetrical shape on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.[15][16]

Removing the stylus from its compartment or pressing its button whilst hovering over the display activates the new "Air Command" pie menu which provides shortcuts to pen-oriented features such as Action Memos (on-screen sticky notes that use handwriting recognition to detect their contents and provide relevant actions, such as looking up addresses on Google Maps and dialing phone numbers), Screen Write (an annotation tool), Pen Window (which allows users to draw pop-up windows to run certain apps inside), the search tool S Finder, and Scrapbook (which allows storing and categorizing image and text excerpts from various apps).[17]

On the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the OS featured several new tools supporting the S Pen stylus, including translation, a screen magnifier, and a GIF recording tool. The previous suite of note-taking apps was also consolidated into a single Samsung Notes app.[18][19][20]

The new S Pen on the Note 8[21] offers expanded software features, including "Live Message" for the creation of handwritten notes combined with emojis resulting in short animated GIFs. Users can remove the S Pen from the device and immediately write notes on the display through "Screen Off Memo," which works due to the screen's always-on capabilities. The screen can collect up to 100 notes and allows the user to easily go back to notes pinned directly on the always-on screen. A "Translate" feature now recognizes punctuation marks, lets users highlight entire sentences rather than single words, and supports 71 different languages.[22]

The S Pen now on Note 9 now has Bluetooth capabilities, including the ability to tap the button on it (hold, single or double) to do certain tasks, such as moving forwards or backward in presentations or taking photos, and third-party support is provided for apps via an SDK. The pen now has a "battery" (essentially a Super Capacitor) that charges when the pen is docked in the silo, with Samsung claiming 30 minutes of usage (or up to 200 clicks of the button) with only 40 seconds of charging.[23][24]

The S Pen bundled with Galaxy Tab S7 FE from 2021}

On the Note 10, the pen is one piece of plastic, instead of two like the Note 9, and supports more advanced Air Actions that allow users to control the phablet remotely with the pen. This includes changing the camera settings and exporting the handwritten text to Microsoft Word remotely. The S-Pen also comes with additional tips for replacement in the box.[25]

The S Pen on Note 20 has better latency at 26ms on the Note 20 and 9ms on the Note 20 Ultra, reduced from 42ms on the Note 10 and Note 10+. Additionally, it gains five new Air gestures that work across the UI by utilizing the accelerometers and gyroscope, as well as 'AI-based point prediction'. Battery life has also been improved from 10 hours to 24 hours.[26]

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 notebook has a different kind of S Pen which is thicker than usual.[27]

The S22 Ultra is the first S series phone to include a built-in S Pen, a hallmark feature of the Galaxy Note series. The S Pen has latency at 2.8ms, reduced from 26ms on the Note 20 and 9ms on the Note 20 Ultra and S21 Ultra (note that the S21 Ultra had S Pen functionality, but it was not included with the phone), and marked the introduction of an 'AI-based co-ordination prediction system'. The S Pen also supports Air gestures and the Air Action system.

Compatible Galaxy devices for the S Pen make use of Wacom EMR technology, meaning that third-party pens made for the same technology will also work other than the S Pen. This includes the Hi-Uni Digital Mitsubishi Pencil, the Staedtler Noris Digital, the LAMY AL-star black, EMR,[28] as well as the Wacom One Pen.[29]

• Samsung Galaxy Note: all models
• Samsung Galaxy Tab[30]
  • Tab S: all models since S3 (except S5e[31])
  • Tab A: Tab A 8.0 (2015/2019), Tab A 9.7 and Tab A 10.1 (2016) only
  • Tab Active: all models
• Samsung Galaxy S: all "Ultra" models since S21[32]
• Samsung Galaxy Z:
  • Z Fold: all models since Z Fold 3 (unbundled)
• Samsung Galaxy Book: Book, Book2, Flex, Flex α, all "Pro 360" models
• Samsung Notebook: 7 Spin, 9 Pen, 9 Pro, S51 Pen
• Samsung Chromebook: Plus V2, Chromebook Pro
• Samsung Ativ: Tab 3, Tab 5, Tab 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note series
• Pen computing
• Wacom
• Apple Pencil
• Surface Pen
• Microsoft Tablet PC