Samsung, LG unveil stylus devices at Barcelona mobile fair


BARCELONA, Spain ― At the Mobile World Congress in this Barcelona, tech geeks from around the world were often spotted checking out new gadgets at the exhibition booths of Samsung and LG. 

They were tackling something believed to have died off in the tech scene ― writing with a stylus. Both Korean tech giants had unveiled stylus devices as new strategic products on Monday with the opening of the telecom industry’s largest trade show.

Instead of announcing the successor to the Galaxy S II, Samsung Electronics rolled out the Galaxy Note 10.1, the tablet PC version of its global hit smartphone the Galaxy Note 5.3. S Pen, a stylus, is the signature feature for the Note series. 

LG Electronics also introduced the Optimus Vu, a Long Term Evolution smartphone accompanied by a capacitive pen called “Rubberdium Pen,” together with six other new handsets at the MWC.

For visitors more familiar with touch devices, handwriting seemed challenging. But many of them, willing to line up for a test drive, looked excited rather than frustrated.

“I rarely use the S Pen for my Note phone. But with the larger display, I would love to use it,” said Daniel Claesson, a tech blogger from Sweden, calling the 10.1 Note a “killer.”

“Not everyone would like to use a stylus for now,” he said. “But I definitely think other tablets would follow suit.”

Until when Samsung launched the 5.3-inch Note in October, skepticism was prevalent about the idea of using a stylus among industry watchers. Steve Jobs, the late Apple founder, once said: “God gave us 10 styluses ― let’s not invent another.”

However, the atmosphere has changed slightly now as more than 1 million units of the Note phone have been sold globally and Samsung launched the 10.1-inch tablet version at the trade show.

Samsung’s mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun also showed no doubts about the usage of a stylus, considering a recent trend toward oversized phones or undersized tablets.

“With the display screen getting bigger, the pen must have more uses. The analogue feeling of handwriting will become a new digital trend,” he said in a press conference on Sunday.

Samsung has upgraded the S Pen for the 10.1-inch version. The stylus itself has become slimmer and more pencil-like and the top functions as an eraser on the screen.

It also offers multi-screen functionality so that users can take a note while Web searching or watching videos. Hand-written numbers as well as letters are digitized and mathematical formulas are solved automatically.

It’s obvious that handwriting is slower than typing on a touchscreen or a standard keyboard. But its flexibility allows room for brainstorming, said LG’s mobile chief Park Jong-seok.

“The Optimus Vu is one of the phones that I have tested for the longest period. I check my thoughts while reading a document then save it to share with others. It makes me keep thinking,” he said.

“The device accepts both touch and any capacitive pen-based inputs. It’s up to you which tool you use.”

The Optimus Vu has a 5-inch screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is more widely adopted by PCs and the iPad so that more information is viewed without dead space.

When the “quick memo” button is pushed, the pen is activated in any mode of the phone. The memo is saved as an image to be shared via email or text messaging.

The stylus, with its analog feel, also appeals to older generations.

“I like handwriting. I actually find touchscreens inconvenient,” said Jaoan Lluis, a middle-aged professor based in Barcelona after trying out the Optimus Vu.

Andrzej Tokarski, editor in chief of the German Webzine TabletBlog, said the fate of the stylus would largely depend on the software that supports it.

“The pencil is still not a factor at this point. It’s just a substitute. But we could expect that the pen would do more with the future version of Android OS and future updates by companies,” he said.

Both Samsung and LG said their devices would continue to get updates to offer optimized services for the stylus. Currently, the Galaxy Note and the Optimus Vu run Ice Cream Sandwich and the Ginger Bread of Android OS, respectively.

By Lee Ji-yoon, Korea Herald correspondent 
(jylee@heraldcorp.com)