Is the S Pen worthless?

[NightAngel79]

I mean, I wanted newer hardware and more storage, so I traded in my S21 Ultra, but the thing I am struggling with is the S Pen, like what do people use it for?????

 

[Hadron]

I've never owned a phone with a stylus, but I've watched a postgraduate using the S-Pen on their Note when explaining problems to students: writing equations, drawing diagrams, that sort of thing. I think they had a calculator that could use pen input too.

I use a stylus with a tablet, but then my main use for tablets is reading and annotating documents and I'd never buy a tablet without one. But I'd find the Ultra too small for that.

 

[GameTheory]

The last time I had a phone with a stylus I used it to sign legal documents sent to me by email. I'd open them on the phone, sign them and send them right back. I didn't need it, but was convenient to have.

 

[The_Chief]

I use my S Pen religiously - every day! So does the Darling Bride. Perhaps it's my age, or perhaps some service-connected condition... but my fingers don't like to go where I tell them. That means a lot of typos and mistakes. With the S Pen, I can swipe, type and tap with surgical precision. Everything I do on my phone, I do better and faster.

Do I need it to swipe through my gallery or change camera modes? No... but it's awesome as a remote shutter for the camera. Or to pause/play my music. Even with the Z Fold 3's limited S Pen, it's great for taking notes or drawing out sketches on that massive canvas. I look forward to the Z Fold 4, which is expected to have an onboard, Note-like S Pen.

Signed,
S Pen fan since the Note 3

 

[ocnbrze]

i also have the z fold 3 and i use the s-pen to make notes or reminders for work or i use it to make grocery lists, things to do for the day and such. i use it more now than i did when i had the note 10+.

 

[Duckster]

I use my S Pen on my SGN8 to crop and send images, to sign documents, to instantly take notes (Samsung Notes pops up as soon as you pull the pen out), to screen write, to magnify, and to translate (awesome feature as I am teaching myself German), and to show off to all of the iPhone owners who don't have one

 

[Deleted User]

I'm a lousy one fingered typer. The main use if I had the 20 Ultra would be for this, but I think I would use it for scrolling, or most things. It was great on my only Note, the Note 3, for editing or redacting screenshots and photos, though my latest phones can do similar albeit with a clumsier finger.

On a busy Note 3 forum on AC at the time, many user's in the US loved signing checks and things, a trucker particularly - a benefit already noted (give me a break!) above.

I "noted" in a review that the aspect ratio is too slim now to use it fully, and I would agree without having tried it.

It's at this point I will always refer to my love of the pre - Android Sony Ericsson P910i (the middle child) which had a smaller pull out pen and a flexible screen material and that was the best of all for me to hit the screen keys with that was heaven. I never used the physical detachable foldable keyboard option.

Would I use all the S22 Ultra features or use the pen all the time now I've been tortured with penless on screen keyboards for so long - possibly not.

Yes maybe a fold / tablet version would be even better but more cumbersome.

Buy an S22 Ultra - it's not on my horizon but I wouldn't kick one out of bed.

There are flagship grade devices with features that I would deem as or more important at close to a third of the price, but yeh if I won a 5 figure sum I might pop in to Samsung.

Also the few big YT reviews I've watched so far were complimentary, but it didn't seem to blow anyone away. I'll watch more. Interesting that GSMArena were very positive of the Exynos variant's performance.

 

[ZepTepi]

I mean, I wanted newer hardware and more storage, so I traded in my S21 Ultra, but the thing I am struggling with is the S Pen, like what do people use it for?????

I use it quite a lot for writing notes and editing pics.

 

[twv]

I've come from the Palm TX thru the Note 2, Note 8, and now migrating to the "Note" S22. I use the stylus all the time, sometimes just out of habit. I prefer handwriting recognition (handles cursive!) to the unpredictability of keyboard autocorrect sometimes. And with the S22 you can write anywhere on the screen once you focus the cursor, so you can collapse the handwriting area to just a couple rows of buttons (one row is punctuation), making split screen and pop up windows much more useful (doing that right now). Switching between handwriting and scrolling just needs you to remember to tap the navigation down-arrow to hide the input area. Switching back is just a matter of setting focus. Air command and notes are the other big features of the stylus.

 

[The_Chief]

I also use it to sketch out my book cover ideas, mark up photos and documents - things that would be very difficult (if not impossible) without a stylus instrument. The extra features with the Bluetooth S Pen are really pretty useful, once you've used them a few times.

I consider the S Pen one of those things that you don't see a value in it if you've never used it... but once you do, you don't want to be without it.

 

[ZepTepi]

I also use it to sketch out my book cover ideas, mark up photos and documents - things that would be very difficult (if not impossible) without a stylus instrument. The extra features with the Bluetooth S Pen are really pretty useful, once you've used them a few times.

I consider the S Pen one of those things that you don't see a value in it if you've never used it... but once you do, you don't want to be without it.

You nailed that Chief! That was me before I got my 1st Note device and now I can't imagine not having the capabilities the stylus provides me.

 

[NightAngel79]

Great feedback everyone! I guess I need to force myself to give it a chance!

 

[kokiangel]

I use my Note 10 plus S-pen daily as I don't see so well these days and I prefer to simply Write what I want to say as I am doing now. so much faster than pecking at the keyboard. I also use it as a comfortable way of scrolling on Webpages and editing pics. Then there's Smart Select for when I need to copy something and long press refuses to work. The list goes on! I love my current Note but can't trust that i will survive another year. With the free memory upgrade and the accessories package I felt like I got a great deal.
If you can, buy directly from Samsung, Carrier free. You won't regret it.

 

[InfernalByte]

I mean, I wanted newer hardware and more storage, so I traded in my S21 Ultra, but the thing I am struggling with is the S Pen, like what do people use it for?????

If you have to aks, you obviously don't need. In my previous job I needed to sign things off on a daily basis, My Note 8 did the job just fine.

 

[NightAngel79]

If you have to aks, you obviously don't need. In my previous job I needed to sign things off on a daily basis, My Note 8 did the job just fine.

Well, I obviously don't *need* it, but that wasn't my question. Was mainly just curious what others used it for and how often. Like I don't take screenshots, nor do I need to right on them if I do. So seems pointless to me. Of course, I was never a Note user either, just isn't functionality I ever needed.

 

[campingfool]

Did I need it? NO. Did I want it? NO. However, now that I have it, I have learned to use it and using it more on a daily basis.

I wanted a new phone, tired of my Pixel 4XL, Pixel 6 Pro too many problems, so looked at the Samsung line; liked the S22 Ultra and here I am.

 

[InfernalByte]

Did I need it? NO. Did I want it? NO. However, now that I have it, I have learned to use it and using it more on a daily basis.

I wanted a new phone, tired of my Pixel 4XL, Pixel 6 Pro too many problems, so looked at the Samsung line; liked the S22 Ultra and here I am.

Welcome

 

[CJ Melhorn]

I have used my S-Pen to write some notes when I the work in the field so I don't have to type, but I also use to play Words with Friends...because I thought, hey, this is nice. The S-Pen does eat up some battery life though when in use. At least for me.