A couple of weeks ago, Samsung revealed the successor to the Galaxy Note 8—the Galaxy Note 9—which, unsurprisingly, is the best ever member of the Galaxy Note line-up to date.
But while the main device itself is made more badass as an upgrade from its predecessor, it’s not only the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that is the star of the announcement—there is also the S Pen, too.
A mobile accessory patterned after a pen is not necessarily something new in the industry since it became a staple accessory in many touchscreen-enabled devices years ago. But unlike other pen-type pointing accessory, the S Pen is not just a mere plastic whose primary importance is rooted in its pointy tip that provides superior response on the main screen than, say, using the fingertip.
Essentially Samsung’s counterpart of the Apple Pen which works exclusively for the latest iPad, the S Pen is made more intricate and offers more functionality as an electronic pointing accessory.
Here are the five killer features that make the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 S Pen a noteworthy piece of technology:
The “supercapacitor”
For something so tiny as one which mimics a pen, the S Pen is powered by electricity under the hood. While it is true that the S Pen’s battery capacity is considered very low which could only last 30 minutes on standby at the most, this pen accessory more than makes up for with the super-charging capability of less than a minute of getting full.
With the ability to be charged when inserted in a Galaxy Note 9, this means that as simple as leaving the S Pen inserted in the Samsung flagship can easily have it refilled of needed power use for yet another 30 minutes of standby usage.
Works as a pointing device on older Galaxy devices
Although the S Pen may not provide the same full functionality to an older Galaxy device, this accessory could still function as an apt pointing tool. It’s just slightly beneficial. But one good thing about this capability is that the S Pen can easily supplant any other pointing tool for use with an older Galaxy Note smartphone.
Related: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs Galaxy S9 Plus: Specs Comparison
Launch apps at a press of a button
The S Pen is more than just a pen-like accessory for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Looking at its design, it is ostensive that the pen incorporates an element of an electronic device, too. By this, I mean that the S Pen has a button which gives it the nifty feature of launching an app at a long-press of the button.
If the aforementioned idea alone is not handy, the ability to customize how the press of the button functions makes for an added bonus. For instance, assigning an app when the button is pressed makes for an easy way of launching that app away from the actual phone.
Can be used as a presentation tool
When you are using the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a presentation—for example, with the use of Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint—the S Pen works remotely when changing slides, thanks to its built-in Bluetooth capability.
Although the pointing device’s very limited battery capacity may be concerning for a lengthy presentation, it is worth reiterating that the pen charges superfast whenever it’s plugged back into the device.
Convenient for use in DeX Mode
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s 6.4-inch screen may be large enough as a phablet but may not be big enough to be efficient for office usage. Since the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung had addressed this issue by turning the phablet device into a PC, thanks to the so-called Desktop Experience or DeX.
Basically, there is this specialized dock which inserts the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or 9 into and then render a PC-like working environment on the screen which is connected to the dock via HDMI cable.
The term “PC-like,” in this context, however, implies enabling the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to work efficiently with other I/O devices such as the mouse and the keyboard which are hallmarks of the desktop computer.
Yet, despite the benefit of the addition of more accessories, the device itself—which is basically the power behind DeX—is not completely left out when it comes to functionality. Since the Galaxy Note 9 has touchscreen, the phablet may also act as a pointing device should the user wished to.
That’s it! If you have any questions, let us know in the comments section below.
Check out our hands-on of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 here.