This $ 70 S combination for pen / cough does not make your S21 Ultra a Galaxy Note

It seems more likely than ever before that the Galaxy Note line, as we know it, is on its way, and that’s definitely bad news for S Pen fans. Or will it? With the launch of this year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, Samsung is apparently trying to give its fan-favorite style a kind of life above the note – but you have to find one yourself.

If you have an old Galaxy Note lying around, you are golden – just jump out the S Pen and sketch away. If you do not, you can buy a brand new price for $ 40 from Samsung, or pay an extra $ 30 for a silicone case / S Pen bundle. The latter option seems to be the most comprehensive option, as it gives the style of Samsung somewhere to live, but after living with it for a week … now, let’s say it was a mixed bag.

Note, this is not due to the S Pen itself. In fact, I actually like this thing – it’s one of the most comfortable S-pins I’ve ever used. The convenience is due to the size of the S Pen. The length and feel of more than four inches long has more in common with a classic ballpoint pen than the small stylus built into Samsung’s Galaxy Note smartphones.

This $ 40 S-Pen contains all the necessary pieces needed to play nicely with the invisible Wacom digitizer in the massive display of the S21 Ultra. This of course means you can write with it, but you can also hold the S Pen above the screen and tap the button to bring up a palette of handy options and shortcuts. It feels a lot like the S Pen experience of the old days, which is good if you’re the type who mostly notices quick reminders and grocery lists. (For other fun features like air gesture support and camera control, wait for the more expensive S Pen Pro coming later this year.)

The S Pen is also fast, which honestly was a bit of a surprise. While working on our S21 Ultra review, I noticed that the stroke delay – that is, the delay between the onset of a stroke and seeing it on the screen – was not quite as low as on devices like the Note 20 Ultra not. I wrote that Samsung, after testing the S21 Ultra with a Lamy S Pen, gave away after a few launches, but it seems like the problem is not gone with this first party stylus. Our review unit did not receive any software updates after publication, and I find it convenient to adjust the inconsistency with the S Pen I used.

If you just need the S Pen to write, you’re fine here. That said, I’m a little hesitant to recommend it to artists. Over the last few years, Galaxy Notes has been able to detect the angle at which the S Pen was held to deliver appropriate oblique strokes. This is still happening on the S21 Ultra with this somewhat less intelligent version of the S Pen, and as far as I can see, the effect works just as well here as on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. There are probably a few edge cases here, which I don’t quite account for, but the experience still feels pretty close.

So, like I said, the S Pen itself is not the issue here. This is the case I long for. First of all, it suffers from all the problems that other silicone containers do – it is quick to pick up lint and dust and clings to the inside of your bag. It seems even more inevitable here because of how damn big the S21 Ultra will be if it were in this case. It was already a bit bigger and heavier than last year’s S20 Ultra, but this case makes it even more troublesome. I understand that this was inevitable – after all, the case has to house a physically larger S Pen all the time. However, people accustomed to the Galaxy Note’s easy-to-grip frame may find this package awkward.

It is also noteworthy that the S Pen slides into a slot on the left side of the case due to all the buttons on the right side of the S21 Ultra. This is good news for leftists, but not so much for everyone; I have not yet been able to practice pulling the pen out with my left hand, so using this stylus / case combo always requires an awkward little juggling. Fortunately, the S Pen is easy to pull out and re-insert when you’re done.

Despite the case, it feels surprisingly bad in some places. Especially the finish of the loading gate is very thin; I could definitely see it getting stuck on something and cracking when I was taken out of a bag. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there is no other S21 Ultra cover available that also comfortably houses the S Pen, so people who want to convert their new flagships into ersatz Galaxy Notes just need to make.

To be honest, I’m not sure what Samsung could have done to make this package more beautiful – other than to choose better materials. The size of the S Pen requires a large size, and like I said, it’s the only game in town right now for anyone who wants to use an S Pen with an S21 Ultra without losing it. However, let’s be clear: as pleasant as the S Pen may be, this stylus / cough combination is nowhere near as thoughtful or as elegant as a proper Galaxy Note, and is unlikely to win Samsung’s hards. For this reason alone, I hope that Samsung does not completely kill its range of power user tablets – with any luck, the ship has not sailed yet.