The thing about Samsung’s S Pen experience is that: it has always retained with the Note series and for those who have used one, its bliss. Last year, we saw the first S Series smartphone to support the S Pen. While that was a great direction especially for those who wanted that “optional” thing going on, for someone like myself – that “optional” offering was a huge let down. But Samsung not only killed that idea and the Note series but made the S Pen a part of the phone which has brought back everything the Note series stood up for. So, how is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra S Pen Experience then? Great.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra S Pen Experience

Now it’s Inside the Phone

For one, we have to address that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra which is essentially a Note (story for another day), now comes with the S Pen baked right into the phone itself. So, you don’t have to get any of that extra accessory that cost a bomb like the S21 Ultra which I did. The pen seems to be the same as the Note20 with the same clicky back and the pen module with a button on it. They have spiced the pen up with a nice matte black coating for the body and the clicky part shares the same color as the phone unlike the Banana Yellow pen on the Note9.

All the Note S Pen features are here

Good news for people who loved the Note’s S Pen with all their heart. Whatever you experienced in that phone is all here with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. You name it: Screen Off note which was also available on the S21 Ultra but now that the pen is a part of the phone and has a proper connectivity, it can detect when the pen has been pulled out (that’s what she said.) and immediately enable the screen off memo.

The magic wand, which is what I like to call is also back – starting with Air Actions where you can perform certain gestures in the air and the phone will perform it. If the phone recognizes any application where it supports Air Actions, then you can use it for those as well. For instance, Office for slide control and Chrome for browsing.

Finally, you see the other settings like changing the menu from compact or detailed mode, air command icon toggle, S Pen Unlock, change the shortcuts and all that goodness.

Granular Improvements (for Good)

Now the real deal with the S22 Ultra S Pen is very granular, and only people who has used the S Pen long enough know how much it really means. For this we did a comparison side by side with our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Note8 for you to really tell the difference.

Number one: the Latency. The Samsung Galaxy Note20 and S21 Ultra has the same latency – 9ms. The Samsung Galaxy Note8 has a latency of – whopping 28ms. Personally, I heavily rely on my notebook to write for the au natural experience: instantaneous, goes right with the flow and feels real.

No mobile device has been able to emulate that for a while, but the S22 Ultra is the closest to come to real life. Thing is you can’t even see it, even comparing with the 28mm, you still can’t see it. But it’s something you need to try long enough to notice that the latency has been improved. Ask someone who can draw the same if not similar artwork on three different devices, they will tell you better.

To go along with that, we even realized that the phone feels like it knows my strokes well, and the AI-based co-ordinate prediction technology seems to pick up that well. This is something you cannot experience writing English letters. When I try to write Tamil text, that’s when I notice it. Better yet, when you try to draw, the stroke feels the same and that’s because its being predicted.

Samsung stepped up their S Pen experience by incorporating Wacom’s technology as well – so, theres an upgrade in the Handwriting component to detect what you write and change into text immediately and the IC speed has increased to 480 circuits per second (vs 360 circuits/sec).

Samsung Notes is Phenomenal

This Samsung Notes app has come a long way. From being a very “proprietary” application, it has taken pages out of their collaboration book, and make a meaningful one at that. As someone who heavily rely on Microsoft services with 365 Subscription, I can tell you this much, OneNote is a good app but it’s annoying to use at times. But Samsung Notes App now integrates with OneNote and Outlook, so you can check the notes over there. Funny enough that the Notes doesn’t sync with OneNote and you can’t like pickup from where you left off, and this is something I want to see in the future.

Otherwise, the Samsung Notes app on its own is still the best note taking app you can use your pen with in the S22 Ultra in my opinion. With the ability to manage files in folders, set a Page Style and Template that works best for you, toolbar add-ons for you to help with your writing and more. Its good. You can use OneNote on mobile to enjoy the S Pen but I still feel, the Samsung Notes is better.

So are other Samsung Apps that support S Pen

This isn’t new but Samsung has kept pretty much the S Pen experience in their other applications – like the other app I love using it is: it’s in the Samsung Calendar where you can scribble, make notes and all that within the Calendar app to have a vibrant calendar. Then we have applications like PENUP to let your artistic capabilities out in the wild and even color some pictures to have some fun.

In the end…

Bringing back the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in a note-worthy form is nothing but bliss and now with the S Pen that’s been incorporated into the phone, things just got livelier for people who loved the Note series, and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is truly your next best bet if S Pen is really what you need.

By the way, this isn’t even the full review yet – so for that, I’d suggest you stay tuned to our Facebook Page or even Instagram as we will keep you updated.