More Than Just a Stylus: Discover What the S Pen Can Do on the Galaxy Tab S Series-OxBig News Network

The S Pen has been an integral part of the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem for over a decade. Originally introduced with the Galaxy Note series, it has since evolved into a must-have tool across Samsung’s premium lineup, including the Galaxy S Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold, and flagship tablets. Today, it’s a favourite among students, professionals, and creatives alike—anyone who values precision, productivity, and seamless multitasking. As schools and colleges embrace digital learning, the demand for advanced stylus technology like the S Pen continues to rise.

Engineered to replicate the feel of a real pen, the S Pen offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, making writing, sketching, and navigating effortless and intuitive. Subtle audio feedback mimics the sound of a pencil on paper, further enhancing the natural note-taking experience. Samsung brings this powerful tool to a wider audience—bundled in the box, no additional purchase required. This also means users can take full advantage of AI-powered features like Circle to Search, Object Eraser, Best Face, and more—with the precision and control only the S Pen can offer.

So beyond just taking notes, what else can the S Pen do? Let’s check out the full range of benefits.

How Does the Tab S Pen Work? / The Tech Behind the Tab S Pen

Before taking a look at its benefits, it’s important to understand how the S Pen works flawlessly on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S Series

The Tab S Pen works using EMR (Electromagnetic Resonance) technology, which allows it to function without a battery. It essentially draws the power from the electromagnetic field emitted from behind the display. Speaking of which, the tablet has a special digitizer layer beneath its huge screen that emits a small electromagnetic field, powering the S Pen wirelessly when it’s nearby.

This layer also detects the S Pen’s position, pressure levels, and tilt, enabling high-precision writing and sketching. The system includes palm rejection, so when the S Pen is close to the screen, it automatically ignores accidental touches from your hand.

With the technical details out of the way, let’s take a look at the benefits of getting the inbox S Pen

Take Notes on the Lock Screen

With the help of the S Pen, think of the Galaxy Tab S as a notebook at your disposal.

Thanks to the Screen-off memo feature, you can instantly jot down ideas or reminders without unlocking your tablet—perfect for those spontaneous moments when inspiration hits. Whether you’re in a lecture and need to quickly capture a key point, brainstorming ideas during a team meeting, or suddenly remembering a grocery item while commuting on the train, you can jot it down instantly.

It’s also perfect for capturing creative sparks—like sketching a quick design concept, writing a lyric, or outlining a story idea—without wasting time. Students can use it to note reminders between classes, professionals can draft to-do lists between appointments, and travellers can log ideas or notes on the fly. The S Pen turns your tablet into a digital notebook that’s always ready, ensuring that no idea slips away simply because you didn’t have a notepad at hand.

Navigate Smarter with the Air Command Menu

The Air Command menu is your central hub for making the most of the S Pen on Samsung Galaxy tablets. With a simple tap or hover, it provides quick access to a suite of powerful tools that streamline productivity, enhance creativity, and enable smart multitasking. Here’s a breakdown of what each Air Command feature offers:

Generate AI Image: Instantly convert your sketches into AI-generated artwork. This feature uses Galaxy AI to transform rough concepts into polished visuals, though it is available only on select high-end models including the Tab S10+, S10 Ultra, S10 FE Series, S9 Series, S9 FE Series and S8 Series tablets. Read below for a deeper dive into this feature.

Create Note: Quickly launch a new note in Samsung Notes to jot down ideas, brainstorms, or reminders without interrupting your workflow.

View All Notes: Access your entire note archive in Samsung Notes, letting you browse, search, and organize past entries for easy reference and editing.

Smart Select: Capture precise portions of your screen—text, images, or even animations—with tools like lasso and rectangle selection, then extract or share the content instantly.

Screen Write: Capture a screenshot of your current screen and immediately annotate it using the S Pen. Ideal for giving feedback, highlighting key points, or marking up documents.

Live Messages: Create customized messages with animated handwriting, emojis, or drawings on top of photos—perfect for adding a personal, expressive touch to your communications.

AR Doodle: Leverage the tablet’s camera to draw in 3D space. With AR Doodle, your annotations stay anchored in the real world, making it perfect for creative projects or fun storytelling.

Translate: Simply hover the S Pen over a word or phrase in a foreign language to get an instant translation. You can also tap the sound icon to hear the correct pronunciation—ideal for students or travellers.

PENUP: A dedicated digital art platform where you can draw, paint, and even join challenges with a global community. Great for practicing art or showcasing your skills.

Quick Settings: Customize your Air Command experience by modifying pen shortcuts, toggling sound effects, or selecting which tools appear in your quick access menu.

Add Shortcuts: Personalize the Air Command menu by adding shortcuts to your most-used apps and features for faster multitasking and a tailored user experience.

With these tools, Air Command turns your S Pen from a simple stylus into a versatile productivity and creativity companion, fully integrated into the Galaxy tablet ecosystem.

Translate Text Within Seconds

This feature is a game-changer for students learning a new language and professionals needing to quickly understand content in a different language. For the translation feature to work, simply hover the S Pen over the text, and you’ll see an instant translation appear on the screen.

For added convenience, you can tap the sound icon to hear the correct pronunciation, which is especially helpful when trying to speak the language or improve your pronunciation. If the text you need to translate is extensive, use Circle to Search to capture the desired section with your S Pen, then tap the ‘Translate’ button for a fast and accurate translation. The translate with S Pen feature isn’t limited to web pages—it also works on photos, documents, and other forms of media that contain text, thanks to built-in optical character recognition (OCR).

Experience Galaxy AI with Sketch to Image, Circle to Search, and More

With Sketch to Image, creativity takes a bold leap forward. Simply draw a rough sketch using the S Pen, and watch as Galaxy AI transforms it into a fully realized illustration—perfect for artists, designers, or anyone who loves to bring ideas to life visually. This feature makes it easy to prototype concepts, visualize scenes, or add artistic flair to your projects with minimal effort and maximum impact.

But the power of the S Pen doesn’t stop there. It also enhances productivity through features like Circle to Search, where you can draw a circle around anything on your screen to instantly pull up AI-driven results—whether it’s identifying a product, translating a phrase, or researching a topic.

Want to clean up your favourite photo? Use the Object Eraser tool to remove distractions with pinpoint accuracy. If you’re working with complex documents or visuals, AI Select lets you highlight specific sections for translation, copying, or quick sharing.

Whether you’re sketching, searching, editing, or sharing, the S Pen paired with Galaxy AI redefines what’s possible—making the Galaxy Tab S Series a true productivity and creativity powerhouse.

Convert Handwriting into Text

With the S Pen, you can ditch traditional typing and embrace the ease of natural handwriting. Whether you’re jotting down notes, drafting an email, or brainstorming ideas, the S Pen allows you to write just like you would on paper—then intelligently converts your handwriting into digital text with impressive accuracy. And, don’t worry, it doesn’t judge you on your handwriting skills.

This handwriting-to-text conversion feature is deeply integrated across a variety of apps including WhatsApp, making it incredibly versatile. For students and professionals, it’s perfect for quickly jotting down notes during lectures or meetings, which can then be converted into clean, editable text for reports or sharing with colleagues. Writing emails on the go becomes more intuitive—just handwrite your message and instantly convert it to text for a polished format It’s also ideal for everyday productivity tasks like creating to-do lists, setting reminders, or managing schedules.

You can handwrite your tasks and convert them for easy syncing with calendar or task management apps. Writers and content creators can draft blog posts, and articles, or brainstorm ideas naturally with the S Pen, then convert those handwritten notes into digital text for editing and publishing.

Edit Photos and Videos like a Pro

The S Pen transforms your phone or tablet into a powerful, intuitive editing tool, making photo and video customization both precise and effortless.

The Tab S Series’ gallery app itself can let you quickly edit photos and videos on the go. Simply tap the pen icon to open a suite of built-in editing features. With the pinpoint accuracy of the S Pen, tasks like trimming video clips, applying filters, adjusting lighting, contrast and saturation levels, or adding background music become significantly more efficient and controlled than using your finger alone.

What truly sets the S Pen apart, however, is its ability to let you personalize your content in creative and meaningful ways. Whether you’re adding handwritten notes, sketches, or annotations directly onto photos or frames of a video, the S Pen makes it easy to highlight important details or convey visual information with clarity—perfect for tutorials, creative storytelling, or professional presentations.

This level of customization turns casual edits into polished, expressive visuals, allowing you to craft content that stands out—whether for personal memories, creative projects, or social media posts.

Turn PDFs into Your Digital Notebook

Paired with the S Pen’s natural, pen-and-paper-like experience, marking up a PDF in Samsung Notes becomes very intuitive. Whether you’re adding handwritten comments, underlining key points, highlighting text, or sketching diagrams, the S Pen provides unmatched precision and ease—ideal for both quick feedback and brainstorming sessions.

The real-world use cases for annotating PDFs are immeasurable. For instance, if you receive a contract that needs review, simply set Samsung Notes as your default PDF viewer. Once entered into the editing mode, you can annotate freely, switching between pen styles, thickness, and highlighter options using the toolbar at the bottom.

Beyond professional use, this feature is also perfect for students reviewing lecture slides or study guides, educators providing feedback on assignments, or creatives sketching out ideas on visual layouts. It’s equally useful for filling out forms, signing documents, or collaborating on team projects without the hassle of printing. With the S Pen, your PDF workflow on the Tab becomes seamless, efficient, and fully mobile—empowering you to stay productive wherever you are.

Smarter Summaries with AI-Powered Transcript Assist

Transcript Assist in Samsung Notes leverages on-device AI to seamlessly convert voice recordings into accurate, editable text. Ideal for meetings, lectures, or brainstorming sessions, this feature automatically generates a full transcript of your audio content, allowing you to read, highlight, or reference spoken words without manually typing them out. For quick insights, Transcript Assist also offers a summary view, condensing lengthy discussions into key points and takeaways. Whether you’re organizing thoughts or preparing reports, the transcribed content can be easily copied, shared, or even dragged into another app using Samsung’s multitasking capabilities. By turning speech into actionable, searchable notes, Transcript Assist transforms how users capture and interact with information.

Streamline Your Calendar Planning with the S Pen

Sharing your schedule and coordinating plans is easier and more intuitive than ever with the Write on Calendar feature. Designed to work seamlessly with the S Pen, this smart tool opens your monthly calendar view and allows you to annotate directly on it—just like you would on a physical planner. Whether you’re trying to show your availability for a meeting, highlight important deadlines, or visually block out time for a project, all it takes is a tap of the S Pen. Use different pen styles to circle dates, add handwritten notes, or draw attention to key events.

It’s also a great way to visually plan vacations, track appointments, or block out personal time. With the S Pen and Write on Calendar, managing your time becomes a more visual, personalized, and efficient experience—helping you stay organized and communicate your plans with ease.The Samsung Galaxy Tab S Series brings the power of innovation to your fingertips, quite literally. With the S Pen included in the box, users gain instant access to a wide range of advanced features designed to elevate productivity, creativity, and everyday convenience. From intelligent handwriting assistance to the seamless Circle to Search function, every interaction feels more natural and intuitive. Combined with the Galaxy Tab’s cutting-edge AI capabilities, the S Pen unlocks an enhanced user experience that’s smarter, faster, and more fluid—making it the perfect companion for work, study, and everything in between.

Turn Messy Text into Structured Notes with Auto Format

The Auto Format feature in Samsung Notes, powered by Galaxy AI, intelligently enhances the structure and readability of your notes with just a tap. Whether you’re drafting quick thoughts or capturing detailed meeting minutes, Auto Format analyzes your content and applies smart formatting options—such as headers, bullet points, and categorized sections—to present your ideas in a clean, professional layout.

You can choose from predefined styles like “Headers and Bullets” or “Meeting Notes,” which help organize information based on context and purpose. Once formatted, you have flexible options to manage your content: copy the text to paste into other apps, replace the existing note with the newly formatted version, or seamlessly insert the structured content into your current note as a new section or page.

This feature is especially beneficial for students, professionals, and writers looking to streamline their workflow and maintain consistency across documents without spending time on manual formatting.

Bring Your Messages to Life with Galaxy AI’s Live Messages

The Live Messages feature within Galaxy AI offers a dynamic and creative way to elevate your text communications. Using the S Pen, you can easily craft personalized animated messages that add a unique touch to your conversations.

You have the freedom to choose from a variety of background styles, including using a pre-existing image or video, capturing a new one directly through the camera, or opting for a simple colored background. With full customization capabilities, you can adjust the font colour, line width, and style, ensuring each message matches your desired aesthetic. Once the message is drawn or written, you can preview the animation, make adjustments with the undo option, or delete any previous strokes.

Once complete, you can save your creation as an MP4 or GIF file and share it directly with friends and family via text or other communication platforms. This feature adds a fun, engaging, and highly personalized element to your messaging experience, making it perfect for social interactions, creative sharing, or just adding a touch of personality to your everyday communications.

Whether you’re sketching out big ideas, editing like a pro, or just scribbling on your calendar, the S Pen on the Galaxy Tab S Series proves it’s far more than a stylus, it’s your creative sidekick, productivity partner, and AI-enhanced multitasking wizard. And the best part? It comes right in the box, ready to go. So whether you’re a student, professional, artist, or just someone who loves a smarter way to work and play, the S Pen is here to transform how you interact with your tablet, one precise stroke at a time.