Samsung really keeps coming out with great smart phones. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 continues this tradition. Not only does it have the usual Samsung features but this one adds a stylus. And I am discovering to my delight that this is wonderfully useful. Need to write something down immediately?? Take the pen out of the lower right corner of the phone, quickly tap the screen twice While holding down the pen button. A floating note immediately pops up – you can grab the top and move it around the screen. Write or type your information and save. There’s nothing more convenient. When you wish to retrieve your note just get it through the S Note app.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
And speaking of the S Note app….. it comes with lot’s of examples so you can see what is possible and how you can organize your own notes. Once in the app the menu let’s you create folders, copy, change order, etc. And, as you can see from the screen grab below, you can sync with existing accounts.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
Like the Samsung S lll you can screengrab by wiping your hand across the screen or pressing the Home and Power buttons simultaneously. (As long as you turn on “Palm swipe to capture” in Settings/Motion, of course). But you can Also capture the screen using the pen! Just HOLD the pen down on the screen while pressing the pen button.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
Once you have ‘grabbed a screen’ using the pen you can – if you wish – cut out a piece of it by drawing around the part of the screen you want to save and grab only that. And when you do this your image is saved in the clipboard. And the contents of the clipboard can be retrieved when you are in any app which uses the keyboard. Cool!
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
Now, another great use for the pen is in the calendar app. When you start up the calendar it isn’t in “Handwriting Mode” but to change that just tap the icon in the upper left of the calendar screen. (The red writing on this screen grab is what I wrote on the screen grab and NOT from drawing on the calendar – just so you aren’t confused):
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
This is the message you get when entering handwriting mode. The mode is only available when viewing Month and Portrait:
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
You have the usual pen tools – various nibs, thicknesses and all colors.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
Here’s some drawings I made in handwriting mode. When you get OUT of handwriting mode the images “disappear” but you will see them again when you enter handwriting mode at another time.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
When using the default gallery app you can ‘write’ on the ‘back’ of any of your images. This is a convenient way to remember details about a camera shot. Access this from the menu. The picture will “turn around” and a ghost/reversed version of the image is ready for you.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
The normal pen tools are available so you can write anything you like. This ONLY works with the default gallery app. Other Picture apps don’t read the notes you made. In the Gallery app you can see which pictures have notes by the small pen icon at the bottom of the thumbnails and when looking at a picture the upper right corner is ‘curled” over a bit.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
If you get other apps for manipulating images you’ll be able to do image processing, adding clip art and directly drawing on images. I added some ‘wicked witch legs’ to this picture from Hurricane Sandy with Photo Editor which comes from Samsung apps.
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
The pen can also be used to initiate actions – start apps and DO things. This is a list of Commands that the phone is programmed to perform when you write these symbols on the home screen. The one at the end I added (you can add your own quite easily). So, if my WiFi isn’t on I can just write “W” on the screen and that turns it on. If I wanted to call someone all I would have to do is write “# Mom” and mom’s number gets dialed. Now, tell me THAT isn’t the coolest thing!!
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
And the pen can be used Just For The Fun of It. This so appeals to the little kid in me.
Ink effect only works if Ripple (or “water”) effect is ON
From Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
Video of the Ink and Ripple effect working.
From Click to see video of Samsung Galaxy Note ll |
And if you want to see something amazing look at “Digital Painting – Speed Painting” – using the S-Pen Samsung Galaxy Note 2
I’ll be Exploring camera and other features in this fabulous phone in the next article.