My Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely overview was largely very optimistic, and it is undoubtedly one of many telephones of the yr thus far, however not all the things concerning the handset fairly landed with me. Specifically, the S Pen appears considerably redundant—and I have never taken the built-in accent out of its slot since I completed writing my overview.
The smooth stylus has been round since 2011, when it made its debut with the Samsung Galaxy Observe—again when the “phablet” was a type issue. After the Observe sequence was discontinued with the Observe 20 in 2020, the S Pen was supported by the Galaxy S21 Extremely in 2021, earlier than getting its personal devoted slot on the Galaxy S22 Extremely the next yr.
The S Pen has additionally been supported on a variety of Samsung tablets, laptops, and foldables down the years. Now although, the accent appears to be falling out of favor: It isn’t supported on the newest Galaxy Z Fold 7, and Samsung lower a few of its options with the Galaxy S25 Extremely model.
Having used the Galaxy S25 Extremely, I am not shocked Samsung is scaling again the performance of the S Pen—and I additionally would not be shocked if it was lacking on the Galaxy S26 Extremely subsequent yr.
What are individuals utilizing this for?
The most recent S Pen now not has Bluetooth assist.
Credit score: Lifehacker
On earlier fashions of the S Pen, with full Bluetooth performance, you possibly can use it as a distant for snapping images or advancing slides in a presentation—a number of the options Samsung ditched with the newest stylus as a result of lower than one p.c of cellphone house owners truly used them, apparently.
The flexibility to open apps and set off different actions through Bluetooth has gone too, which implies Samsung’s official record of what you possibly can truly do with the S Pen is usually about options you now not get. What’s extra, you possibly can’t use an older S Pen, just like the one included with the Galaxy S24 Extremely, on the Galaxy S25 Extremely.
There are some advantages: The S Pen itself and the Galaxy S25 Extremely are lighter in consequence, and the latest S Pen now not wants a battery, so there isn’t any want to fret about charging it. Presumably it now prices Samsung much less to make, although there was no distinction between the launch worth of the S24 Extremely and the S25 Extremely.
All that is left is sketching and be aware taking, plus the fundamentals of choosing buttons, menus, photographs, and textual content utilizing the S Pen—one thing I believe many individuals will simply use their fingers and thumbs for. Your mileage could fluctuate, however I have never discovered myself popping the S Pen out and in of the Galaxy S25 Extremely typically.
Positive, with the ability to take handwritten notes on the lock display is type of helpful, however absolutely it is simpler and extra handy to easily faucet them out as a substitute. That is definitely what I do—even when lots of the greatest note-taking apps on the market (together with the wonderful Google Hold) can settle for and acknowledge handwritten textual content, and convert it into digital textual content.
What do you suppose thus far?
It is good for digital artwork, no less than
The record of S Pen choices is not so long as it was.
Credit score: Lifehacker
The very best experiences I’ve had with the S Pen on my Galaxy S25 Extremely are with sketching out little doodles. Drawing Help, the place you possibly can sketch out one thing and have the on-board AI flip it right into a extra full image, is enjoyable for about 5 minutes—though the outcomes I bought hardly ever matched what I used to be considering in my thoughts.
I do like drawing, although, and with the S Pen that is way more fulfilling and correct than utilizing a finger. Load up a be aware app or a drawing app on Android, and the S Pen truly begins being helpful, whether or not you wish to create a flowchart of concepts, or a mockup of a design, or just a bit sketch.
There are extra high quality drawing apps on Android than you may notice. There’s the likes of Infinite Painter, Sketchbook, and Krita, for instance, and Adobe simply relaunched Photoshop for Android. These are all able to creating professional-level art work, and utilizing them with the S Pen actually does elevate the same old expertise.
You are most likely not going to do loads of this type of work in your cell phone, nevertheless, {and professional} creatives will definitely wish to use an even bigger canvas—so in that respect it is a disgrace that S Pen assist has been dropped from Samsung’s foldables this yr. That mentioned, I wager most foldable house owners would favor to have a thinner system and an extended battery life.
Little doubt there are individuals on the market who make full use of the S Pen on their Samsung Galaxy cellphone, however I think about it is a shrinking fraction of general customers. If eradicating the S Pen from the Galaxy S26 Extremely signifies that beneficial properties could be made by way of system design and battery capability, then I feel Samsung will go for it.
