# S pen with my Samsung Note 5 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852 "2019-05-12T12:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/1 "2019-05-12T12:24:33Z")
Hello everyone, I have a Samsung Note 5 and it comes with a small pen/ pointer thing. It can be used instead of you’re finger on the touch screen, to write and do a lot of other things I’m sure if i bothered to read the manual. MY question is, how does it work? I know the acting as a finger part, but it has a button on the side, also when you hold it near the screen a little circle appears on the display. It doesn’t have battery or any device [f2f, Wi-Fi) to communicate with the phone. As far as I can tell its just a stick of aluminum, so how can the phone recognize it when I hold it am inch from the screen? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/2 "2019-05-12T12:34:19Z")
Here you go, straight from the Android Authority: [Samsung S Pen](https://www.androidauthority.com/break-it-down-how-does-the-s-pen-work-154435/) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/3 "2019-05-12T12:35:13Z")
It [does actually have](https://www.androidauthority.com/break-it-down-how-does-the-s-pen-work-154435/) “a device that communicates with the phone” that is powered by the phone itself. That is actually pretty old computer tech–back in the early 1990s I had a Wacom tablet with a pen that worked the same way. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/4 "2019-05-12T12:50:28Z")
Thanks! Both links were very helpful. There’s more than meets the eye apparently with the S Pen. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/5 "2019-05-12T13:15:11Z")
BTW, the newest S Pen [is Bluetooth](https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/8/9/17660828/samsung-galaxy-note-9-s-pen-stylus-bluetooth-features-specs-2018). And I’m not finding a link now, but I recently saw rumors that Apple is trying to put a camera in their version of a stylus. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/6 "2019-05-12T13:33:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It [does actually have](https://www.androidauthority.com/break-it-down-how-does-the-s-pen-work-154435/) “a device that communicates with the phone” that is powered by the phone itself. That is actually pretty old computer tech–back in the early 1990s I had a Wacom tablet with a pen that worked the same way. I think the Samsung S-pen is actually made by Wacom (see [here](https://wacom.com/en-us/about-wacom/news-and-events/2017/1257) for example). It’s the same technology used in Wacom-branded graphics tablets. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-pen-with-my-samsung-note-5/833852/7 "2019-05-12T13:39:02Z")
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