Weekly poll: are you using the S Pen's remote control functions?

02 February 2025
The Bluetooth-enabled S Pen is no more, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a passive stylus.

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Zonyl, 5 hours agoLong time Samsung Note and Ultra user (and palm treo stylus... more"The likely reason is that Samsung didn't want to engineer the stylus charger into the new snap dragon elite motherboard."

Oh, they didn't want to engineer something? Incredible, but they do want to charge $1300 for it of course.

    • Z
    • Zonyl
    • E8Z
    • 5 hours ago

    Long time Samsung Note and Ultra user (and palm treo stylus) and have never used the air gesture feature on the stylus.

    Use it all the time to write on the screen though and that functionality remains. I have compared the s24u and S25u stylus and they have negligible weight difference. Jerryrig broke open the stylus and showed it is essentially identical to the 24 and just has the battery missing in an empty space. The likely reason is that Samsung didn't want to engineer the stylus charger into the new snap dragon elite motherboard.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • B}K
      • 5 hours ago

      ThatOneWeabo, 6 hours agoBluetooth-enabled S Pen allows users to control the phone r... more"Remote control"? I'll be honest, I never had a phone with an s-pen so all I know is what I've seen around the office and what Samsung's help article ANS10003221 lists as "air actions" and all that seems like a glorified "back, forward, home screen presses, with an additional swipe left and swipe right on the screen" - none of that seems any more useful than the shutter, you still need to be in viewing distance of the phone, unless you have some REALLY specific use-case for those, it's nothing you can't perform with your fingers anyway and correct me if I'm wrong, but the pen can still be used as a substitute for a finger on the screen (like how drawing tablets work on PCs) so "I have gloves on and gestures were useful" is out of the window on that one.

      I'm not saying I'm right, again, limited exposure 'n all that, but I have yet to see anyone that actually shares a good example of a situation where the removed features actually make a difference for the better.
      This is not sarcasm or anything like that - I REALLY want to actually hear from people that used them - how did you use them and what did they improve for you compared to just using your phone normally?

      If Samsung claims they didn't do anything for people and the people never share how they DID DO something for them, then nothing will change in the future either.

        9el, 6 hours agoSamsung announced it will sell bluetooth s pen for s25 ultr... moreIf you looked at those articles you would have eventually found out that it is fake. Wouldn't even make sense since you could not charge that pen inside of the phone anymore.

          • 9
          • 9el
          • nDx
          • 6 hours ago

          Samsung announced it will sell bluetooth s pen for s25 ultra if you want it. The news is all over internet and i don't understand why gsmarena not said nothing about that in the review or even in this post 😒

            ThatOneWeabo, 6 hours agoBluetooth-enabled S Pen allows users to control the phone r... moreYou had other options, but those were even less used than the remote control.

              • j
              • jpn4
              • yJt
              • 6 hours ago

              Camera remote control I use often it is a nifty feature and a shame it's gone with the S25U

                Anonymous, 8 hours agoWith comments like this one, I can't help but wonder i... moreBluetooth-enabled S Pen allows users to control the phone remotely, you could use it to trigger the camera, open apps, and navigate the phone’s UI, among other things.

                So no it is NOT only for the camera shutter.

                  S Pen without Bluetooth is just like a plastic waste stick, you might as well remove it at this point, remove what made the S Ultras special.

                    • S
                    • SpyC
                    • 3WR
                    • 6 hours ago

                    I used the Bluetooth occasionally. Bought the s25u only because I was offered a really good deal, but with the stylus nerfing and style iphonisation, I am considering switching to Sony soon.
                    Sony proves to keep the good features longer and also they have their own style.

                      GregLu, 10 hours ago1% of 15Mil is 150k mate 😅 And it's more than that ... moreYeah sorry, meant to say 150k, was distracted by someone so I forgot to edit that part

                        Invetor, 9 hours agoMy guess is they saved some weight by removing the battery ... more"My guess is they saved some weight by removing the battery from the S-pen."

                        If they really wanted to save some weight, they should've just skipped adding those fake camera rings.🤭

                          The battery is so small that the weight will be insignificant

                            I don't understand the point of having a survey if I can't see the results afterwards.

                              It’s definitely a niche use, and most Ultra users don’t even use the s-pen at all. Many people bought the Ultra simply because it’s the top of the line model in the Galaxy S lineup.

                              But doesn’t mean Samsung should just remove it for no reason, considering it was not problematic for the last few generations.

                                Anonymous, 8 hours agoWith comments like this one, I can't help but wonder i... moreI understand but it was the unique feature that S pen had that a lot of digital pens don't have. It was a unique feature on the Samsung Ultra smartphone but now its gone.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • B}K
                                  • 8 hours ago

                                  Pink Poop 69, 9 hours agoThe thing is that those Bluetooth features were signature o... moreWith comments like this one, I can't help but wonder if I'm the only person on earth that uses the pen for actually writing and drawing?
                                  I get it, having an easily accessible remote shutter button is nice but...explain to me how is that THE MOST ESSENTIAL feature of the pen? If you'll be taking a photo from a distance anyway, just set a timer, yeah it's not AS convenient but we've been doing this for years with non-pen-having phones (not to mention every Chinese selfie stick these days has a detachable shutter button you can just use).

                                  Again, not saying we need to ignore a feature removal but calling the whole pen useless because of THAT is extreme over-reacting.

                                    Someone said in Samsung's forum that it's because of Qi2 charging. Is this true?

                                      Invetor, 9 hours agoMy guess is they saved some weight by removing the battery ... moreIt's definitely not why they ditched the Bluetooth capabilities of the S Pen. And I can guarantee you that the few grams of weight that they might've saved doing that is barely noticeable when holding the S24 Ultra on one hand and S25 Ultra on the other.

                                        That makes no sense. Samsung likes so much to remove features if they're not used by 50% or more of its users.

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