[Nexus 10 General] BarryH_GEG:
It's__not__about__the__pen. It's about a totally new way of interacting with a tablet. And it's about new, unique, and exclusive features that support that. I totally get how you and others that view a tablet strictly as a consumption device would view S Pen and its accompanying features as having no value leading to statements like the one you made. And that's totally cool and the Note's features are probably overkill for consumption users and not worth trading down on screen resolution from the N10 for. But people aren't idiots. If the pen was just a parlor trick why would people paying more for a device with a lower resolution display and a weaker SoC be so happy with it? In Q3 (the last quarter reported) the Note sold 1MM units a month, the N7 sold 1MM units a month, and the entire Asus 10.1" tablet line (TF201/300/700) sold 250K units a month. For a $500 tablet to sell at the same rate as a $199 tablet says something about how what Samsung's done with the Note(s) resonates with people focused on productivity and creation. If that's not you, excellent. You made the right choice with the N10. But for people that are interested in more than just consumption they owe it to themselves to investigate the Note before ruling it out. And I'm not questioning anyone's decision to rule it out based on their specific wants/needs.

Someone on the VZW N2 forum called S Pen and TW a "gimmick." Here are some more examples from that discussion of things both Note's can do that make using them so unique.

S Pen

Navigate the device (up/down/left/right) by holding the pen at the corresponding edge of the display.

Use gestures to "go back" or "open settings" w/o having to use the capacitive buttons.

Hover over drop downs and menus to have them expand (EG: AA.com. Reservations>Book flights>Round-Trip) rather than having to go menus deep to get to content or actions you're looking for.

Air View to see exploded views of e-mail bodies and headers, appointments, photos in an album, previews of videos w/o opening them.

Pop-up Note for taking quick notes by just double tapping the display from anywhere - even the lock screen.

Mark up Word and PDF documents with "ink."

Lasso anything on the display and import it in to an app or save it in the scrapbook along with other ideas or collections of ideas.

Palm rejection allows you to touch the display while using the pen so you don't have to get cramps avoiding it.

Shape Match for drawing and Formula Match for taking notes.

Quick Gestures for performing multi-step processes in a single hand written entry (EG: e-mail and MMS to specific people or groups).

S Voice can be controlled via the pen so it can be used silently.

TW

Multiview for doing multiple things at once (EG: copying or referencing something between the browser, e-mail or MMS).

S Note for note taking, document editing, drawing, idea creation, and scrap boarding - all shareable to the outside world because S Note converts documents to PDF's.

Persistent scrapbook that allows you to capture content (text, media, URLs) from anywhere (apps, web, lasso from display) and save it so that it's available for future use; even after a reboot.

S Planner to sync multiple calendars and tasks in one place with the abilitiy to write notes in Month View.

Pop-up Browser to allow you to keep an app in focus while looking at a linked web page (EG: a link in an e-mail).

Control the music player, phone (accept/reject calls), alarm (shut off/snooze), camera ("shoot"), and unlock the device to directly open in to your choice of apps with your voice.

S Voice to open apps and controls via voice or pen that Google Now doesn't support.

Music Square to automatically create play lists by mood or from a song you're currently listening to.

Dual-function notification bar. Long-pressing opens that app's settings screen (EG: Wi-Fi short press=toggle, long-press=open Wi-Fi settings).

Smart Stay to keep the device awake when you're looking at it and Smart Rotation to keep the display set to the orientation of your eyes.

Tri-view typing keyboard (standard, floating, thumb) that uses SwiftKey prediction under license.

Pen-sensitive (automatically invokes when it senses the pen) handwriting keyboard with excellent recognition that's faster than typing and excellent for taking notes in communal settings (EG: work, school).

Hardware accelerated browser.

Tons of audio and video codec support.

Here's some past screen shots from previous discussions some of you might find interesting.