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Samsung’s S-Pen is a central part of the Galaxy Note experience, but if your stylus is acting a bit wonky it can be quite frustrating (especially for an artist). Here’s a couple of quick tips courtesy of WonderHowTo that show how to fine-tune the S-Pen for the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, and Galaxy Note 10.1.
First things first, slam your S-Pen on the nearest hard surface. No, seriously. Not only will you take out a bit of pent up rage but it also works surprisingly well at jolting the stylus back into working order. Tap (with a bit of force) the nib end of the pen on a table a few times and see what happens.
If hulking out on your expensive new toy doesn’t sound like the approach you want to take (or if it doesn’t produce the intended results) a quick and simple hardware tweak will work wonders. Now this might sound like its pushing into something only for skilled users, but it’s actually quite simple. You need only to pop off the S-Pen’s click button using a razor or small screw driver (just be careful not to break it) and then adjust a potentiometer.
You’re aiming for the potentiometer closest to the tip of the S-Pen (the one on the left in the above picture). Turn clockwise to decrease sensitivity and vice-versa to dial it up. You can do so with the same screwdriver or razor blade you used to pop off the click button. Once you have honed in the perfect level of sensitivity simply replace the button and you’re on your way to the Galaxy Note experience you always dreamed of.
AndroidForums user Calligrapher was able to turn a problematic S-Pen into a finely-tuned writing instrument. Here’s a look at what you can do with a properly calibrated stylus:
Alright, so not everyone will go from doodler to expert calligrapher, but you will hopefully have an S-Pen that is more usable than when it came out of the box. Have some great Galaxy Note-created artwork you want to share? Head on over to the forums and show it to the world! We might even post some of the best art here on the main page of Phandroid.
Mine seems perfectly usable on my ATT Note 2. Are people having problems with the S-Pen?
with a few the tip is stuck in place, so they will send out touch signals whenever they are near the screen.
mine hasn’t had any problems yet.
I’ve never had a problem with just the tip…
mine had. the tip was stuck so t-mo replaced it.
Awesome !!
Holy cow. People (with talent) will be able to completely dominate Draw Something now! :O
Fred Marshall is hot !!
Anyone else think this sounds REALLY disgusting?
With what? Better drawn wangs?
Ok i shouldnt but the s pen + learn to draw = the perfect marriage for any cheater. Try out the app Chris. ive fouled so many people with the app
Mine is perfect. Never an issue, but Ill keep this in mind just in case.
I’ll second the hard strike to the pen to make the stylus work. I don’t seem to have any issues with my S Pen on my Note 2. But the pen is very similar to the Wacom tablet I used to have, and by trial and error, I found that by hitting the pen hard onto the table top actually made the pen work. Before, the pen had no pressure sensitivity, and by hitting it, it would gain more. And it took SEVERAL hard hits to get it back to normal again.
I’ve never had a problem with any Wacom I’ve owned since the Artz days — early nineties — and I didn’t even know you could fine tune the stylus hardware wise, I’ve always handled it in software.
My Note 10.1″ works great!
Ta for the mention, Kevin. My S-pen was making me really off piste. I
was about to stab my phone to death with it. (Anyone else having
problems can read my description here: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2/654131-problem-air-view-s-pen-out-control.html#post5283293)
I was hoping someone would have something to say about my theory as to
why giving the pen a bang helps. I read somewhere that it loosens the
point but my theory is that it dissipates some extraneous electrical
charge. As far as I know, the pen functions primarily by a faint
electrical charge and the associated magnetism, and if there is somehow
too much of that built up, the pen will be too sensitive.
Does anyone here have any proper knowledge of these things?
In case anyone’s interested, I’ve started a special thread for calligraphy and drawing with the S-Pen:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2/658661-s-pen-art-calligraphy.html#post5289095
Thanks, I’ll definitely be checking that out in the near future!
Odd that one can’t post a comment here with one’s Phandroid ID …
Thanks for the interesting info. I didn’t know that you could adjust the s pen in any kind of way. I will be saving this to my Springpad for future reference! :-)