S Pen

S Pen (Korean: S펜) is a wireless digital pen stylus designed and developed by Samsung Electronics featuring Wacom's digital pen technology. It is made for use (and often bundled) with supported Galaxy mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, as well as selected Samsung Notebook, Samsung Galaxy Book, and Chromebook notebooks. It was first released with the Samsung Galaxy Note series in 2011, becoming a core feature of the Note line of products.^[3] The S Pen supports features such as translating text by hovering the pen, and creating animated messages.^[4]

S Pen

A black S Pen that shipped with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (2022)
Developer	Samsung Electronics
Type	Digital stylus
Release date	29 October 2011 (2011-10-29)
Introductory price	₩55,000 (Fold Edition, 2021)-₩121,000 (Pro, 2021)^[1]
Dimensions	S Pen Pro: 170.9 mm × 8.89 mm (6.728 in × 0.350 in) S Pen Fold Edition 132.1 mm × 7.7 mm (5.20 in × 0.30 in)^[2]
Mass	S Pen Pro: 13.8 grams (0.49 oz) S Pen Fold Edition 6.3 grams (0.22 oz)

History and models

The S Pen was introduced with the Samsung Galaxy Note series, the first "phablet", in 2011. The stylus has an active digitizer by Wacom, with the first generation having 128 levels of pressure sensitivity.^[5][6] A button on the side of the pen can be used to activate special pen-oriented features and gestures in the system software.^[5]

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 Samsung Internet)^[7][8] and for scrolling.^[9]

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.^[10][11][12]

The S Pen on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8^[13] 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.^[14]

Starting from the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the S Pen has Bluetooth capabilities, including the ability to tap the button on the pen to do certain tasks.^[15]

 

The S Pen bundled with Galaxy Tab S7 FE from 2021

On the Samsung Galaxy 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.^[16]

The S Pen on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 features a faster response time than previous models and an extended battery life.^[17]

The Samsung Galaxy S22 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. ^{[citation needed]}

Third-party pens

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,^[18] as well as the Wacom One Pen.^[19]

Compatible devices

• Samsung Galaxy Note series
• Samsung Galaxy Tab series^[20]
  • Tab S: all models since S3 (except S5e^[21])
  • 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 Ultra
• Samsung Galaxy Z series:
  • Z Fold: all models since Z Fold 3 (unbundled)
• Samsung Galaxy Book: Book, Book2, Flex, Flex α, all "Pro 360" models
• Samsung Notebook: 9 Pen, 9 Pro (other pen-enabled models like 7 Spin use the Active Pen^[22])
• Samsung Chromebook: Plus, Pro, Galaxy Chromebook (Galaxy Chromebook 2 uses USI^[23])
• Samsung Ativ: Tab 3, Tab 5, Tab 7

Specifications comparison

This table is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Pen tip diameter	Bundled With
	Galaxy Phone	Galaxy Tablet	Others
1.6mm	Note 3/4/5, Note 10.1, Note Pro 12.2	Tab A 8.0, Tab A 9.7, Tab A 10.1 (2016)
0.7	Note 7/8/9 series	Tab S3, Tab S4, Tab A (2019), Tab Active2	Notebook 9 Pen S
0.7 mm (new)	Note 10/20 series, S21 Ultra, S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, S24 Ultra	Tab S6, Tab S6 Lite, Tab S7 series, Tab S8 series, Tab S9 series, Tab Active 3
1.5 mm	Z Fold 3/4/5

See also

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

References

1. "Samsung Elec's new foldables arrive in enhanced features but cheaper price tag - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea". pulsenews.co.kr. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
2. Kew-Denniss, Zachary (11 August 2021). "S Pen Fold Edition vs. S Pen Pro: What's the difference?". Android Police. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
3. "[Since 2011~] Looking Back at the S Pen's History of Innovation". Samsung Global Newsroom – All the latest news, key facts and inspiring stories about Samsung Electronics. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
4. Etherington, Darrell (23 August 2017). "The Galaxy Note 8's S Pen has new pen powers, including translation". Retrieved 4 October 2023.
5. "Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 review: Power play". GSMArena. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
6. "Samsung Galaxy Note review". Trusted Reviews. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
7. Video: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 – Air View by FoneArena (October 10th, 2012)
8. Video: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 – Air View (November 19th, 2012)
9. "What is Air view feature of S Pen in Samsung Galaxy Note2(GT-N7100)? | Samsung Support India". Samsung India. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
10. "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 arrives August 19th with curved display, iris scanner". The Verge. Vox Media. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
11. "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review: Sleeker, simpler, better than ever". Engadget. AOL. from the original on 31 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
12. "New Note 7 TouchWiz interface features preview". PhoneArena. 19 August 2016. from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
13. "What are the new improvements for S Pen in Galaxy Note8?". Samsung sg. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
14. Siddiqui, Aamir (23 August 2017). "A Look at the Galaxy Note 8's New & Improved Software Features". XDA Developers. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
15. "The Samsung Galaxy Note 9's S Pen has a clever rapid-charging "battery" with one tiny flaw". Phonearena. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
16. "Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus hands-on: This one is different". Android Authority. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
17. Hager, Ryne (5 August 2020). "What's new with the Galaxy Note20's S Pen?". Android Police. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
18. "Samsung unveils new S Pen Pro, announces support for third-party styluses". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
19. "Wacom's Pen Technology Powers Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra with S Pen for the First Time in the History of the Galaxy S series". wacom.com. Tokyo. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
20. Maxham, Alexander (11 August 2021). "Here's The Devices That Are Compatible With Samsung's New S-Pen Pro". Retrieved 4 October 2023.
21. "Best Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e Stylus | Mobile Fun Blog". 16 May 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
22. "Samsung Notebook 9 Pen, Notebook 9 (2018) and Notebook 7 Spin (2018) Available Starting February 18". Samsung US Newsroom. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
23. "Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 review: Still premium, but at a nicer price". CNET. Retrieved 31 October 2023.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to S Pen.