Stylus support on smartphones was in a peculiar stage a few years back but over time, it has been the go-to tool for productivity seekers who want to get the most out of their smartphones. Stylus has gone from being a gimmick to a tool with which you can sign PDFs, draw on your device, and a lot more.
How to choose the right stylus phone for you
If you love to write and draw with your smartphone, you need to get a stylus phone. A stylus phone is a phone that has a built-in stylus so you can easily write or draw on the screen.
When choosing a stylus phone, the most important thing to consider is what type of content you want to create. If you mostly write text documents or email, a traditional pen and paper would work just as well. If you primarily use your smartphone to draw or write with a virtual pen on the touch screen, then a stylus phone is necessary.
There are two main types of styluses available for smartphones: capacitive and resistive. A capacitive stylus works with phones that have capacitive screens, like iPhones and Androids. A resistive stylus works with phones with resistive screens, like Windows Phones and BlackBerrys, which are out of the market, but it is always good to know what kind of stylus was used in its earlier avatar.
The best features of a stylus phone
When it comes to smartphones, there are many different types of users. For some, a touchscreen is all they need. But for others, a stylus can be a great addition to their phone. Stylus phones are becoming more and more popular and with good reason! They offer some great features that regular phone users may not be familiar with. Here are just a few of the best stylus phone features:
Stylus control: With a stylus, you can easily navigate your phone’s interface and make changes without using your fingers. This is especially helpful if you have arthritis or other hand limitations.
Handwriting recognition: Many stylus phones come with handwriting recognition, so you can easily write notes and text messages without using a keyboard. This is great for people who have difficulty using keyboards.
Gestures: Some stylus phones also let you perform gestures, especially Samsung ones, such as flipping through screens or zooming in on pictures. This allows you to do tasks quickly and easily without taking your hands off the screen.
Stylus input is accurate and easy: Unlike finger input, which can be inaccurate because your hand movement is unpredictable, stylus input is precise because you are using a pen or other type of pointer to make your selections. This means that you can easily enter text or drawings without struggling.
Stylus phones are versatile and portable: Since stylus input in its latest avatar is fairly accurate and fast, you can use it for a variety of tasks, from taking notes to drawing pictures or diagrams. This makes stylus phones perfect for use on-the-go, whether you need to take notes during a meeting or just want to sketch out a design idea.
So here’s a list of best smartphones that come with Stylus support and can take your productivity a notch higher:
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Samsung came up with the stylus on the first Note in 2011 and since then, the S-Pen has evolved in some way on every iteration of the Note. The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra that launched two years back is still one of those smartphones with the best Stylus experience out there. In our review of the device, we said that Samsung had refined the S-Pen so much, that it felt like a regular pen as there was no lag. That’s not all, as it supports Handwriting recognition which converts scribbles to printed text with ease.
One can add AR doodles on the camera, draw sketches, use “Air Gestures” to manage camera app, scrolling or take a snapshot. Since S-Pen stays lodged inside the Note itself, one doesn’t have to worry about losing it or charging it. This makes it one of the most refined experiences.
Apart from this, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is loaded with 6.9-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O Display with 3088 × 1440 pixels Pixel resolution. The phone is powered by Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 990 for the global market and Snapdragon 865+ for the US and China. It has 12GB LPDDR5 RAM with 256GB/512GB storage (UFS 3.1) and expandable memory up to 1TB with microSD.
For optics, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is comes with a triple camera setup that comprises of 108MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, OIS, Laser AF Sensor, 12MP Periscope lens with f/3.0 aperture, PDAF, OIS, 5X optical zoom, Super Resolution Zoom up to 50X, 12MP 120° Ultra Wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture. For the front, it has 10MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1.22-micron pixels, and dual-pixel autofocus.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the first S-series smartphone to be offered with S-Pen support since Samsung gave up on the Note after Note 20 series. The only caveat of S-series smartphones gaining Stylus support is that it is sold separately while it came pre-loaded inside the Note series. The S-Pen on S21 Ultra supports Air Command, Smart Select, Note creation, and a lot more.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is still one of the high end smartphones which one can consider because it gets a decent software support and secondly, it doesn’t give up on power in any aspect. It comes with a 6.8-inch adaptive 120Hz QHD+ curved AMOLED Display with a resolution of 3200 x 1440 pixels. The phone draws power from an octa-core Exynos 2100 SoC in global markets paired with 12GB and 16GB LPDDR5 RAM options.
It features a quad camera setup with a 108-megapixel Wide-Angle camera with an f/1.8 aperture, OIS, 12-megapixel dual pixel ultra-wide angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture, a 10-megapixel telephoto lens for 3x zoom, OIS support, and another 10-megapixel Periscope lens for 10x zoom, 100x Space Zoom, Laser Autofocus sensor. On the front, the device has a 40MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
The device runs on OneUI based on Android 11. It packs a 5,000mAh battery that supports USB PD 3.0 and Wireless Charging 2.0 for fast wired and wireless charging. Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C port. The device is IP68 certified as well.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra solved the only caveat S21 Ultra had and employed the S-Pen within the device. It truly came out as the successor to the Note 20 Ultra, post which Samsung also announced that the Galaxy S series will now act as the true successor to the Note series. It supports all the S-Pen features Galaxy S21 Ultra came with and more. This makes it one of the latest smartphones to support a Stylus, alongside having great cameras and powerful hardware.
The phone features a 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x curved panel with up to 120Hz Refresh Rate support, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Eye comfort shield, 100% DCI-P3 coverage, and up to 1750 nits of peak brightness. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. It runs on OneUI 4.1 based on Android 12 and will receive next 4 years of major Android OS upgrades.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra gets a quad-camera setup at the rear, healdined by a 108MP primary wide camera with dual pixel AF, f/1.8 aperture. Additional Sensors include a 12MP ultra-wide camera with 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x Optical Zoom support, f/2.4 Aperture and another 10MP telephoto sensor with 10x optical zoom support and f/4.9 aperture. For selfies, there’s a 40MP f/2.2 front sensor. The device packs a 5000mAh battery and supports 45W fast charging.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3
The Galaxy S-series wasn’t the only series to gain support for Stylus, as Samsung found the perfect opportunity to make its Fold series smartphones even more productive by giving it support for the same. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 supports the S-Pen Fold Edition, which can be used on the main foldable screen of the Z Fold 3.
The S Pen Fold Edition features a slim 1.5mm pen tip with 4096 pressure levels to write and sketch as naturally and accurately as putting pen to paper. One can pull up the Air Command menu at the click of the S Pen button. You can also simply hover S Pen Fold Edition over the screen and click the button on the side to pull up the features like Smart select, Screen Write, Live Message and more.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 sports a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED primary display with 2208 x 1768 pixels resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. In addition, there is a 374ppi Pixel density and 120Hz refresh rate. The display on the outside is a 6.2-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display which has 2260 x 832 pixels resolution, 387ppi pixel density, and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The phone packs a 4400mAh battery cell with support for 25W Fast charging and wireless charging. It is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chip paired with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The triple rear camera system includes a 12-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 sensor with a 123-degree field-of-view (FoV) and lastly, a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/2.45 zoom lens and OIS.
There are two front cameras on the phone. The one present alongside the front display is a 10-megapixel f/2.2 lens, while the one present inside the fold under the main display is a 4-megapixel f/1.8 sensor.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
As much as the idea of a Stylus on smartphones seems appealing, it seems like Samsung is the only brand that wants to take major advantage of the feature. It brought the same S-Pen experience to the latest generation of its foldable and that’s the Galaxy Z Fold 4. However, it is available for purchase separately and isn’t included in the box.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 sports a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED primary display with 2176 x 1812 pixels resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. In addition, there is a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The display on the outside is a 6.2-inch HD+ Super AMOLED panel.
It has a 2316 x 904 pixels resolution and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. In addition, a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip powers the smartphone along with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 First Look: What has changed?
The triple rear camera setup includes a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 sensor with a 123-degree field-of-view (FoV) and lastly, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with an f/2.4 zoom lens and OIS. It is backed up by a 4400mAh battery which supports both wireless charging and reverse wireless charging as well.
The front camera on the cover display is a 10-megapixel f/2.2 lens, while the one inside the fold under the main display is a 4-megapixel f/1.8 sensor. Connectivity options include 5G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, GPS, and a USB Type-C port.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2022)
Motorola is also one of those brands that understood the potential of the stylus and started including it in its smartphones. Its latest smartphone, the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022), comes with a built-in stylus using which you can write naturally, edit photos, and navigate with pinpoint precision. One can use Moto Note to write a quick note without unlocking your phone. You can also animate your own illustrations and share them instantly with Live Message.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) features a 6.8-inch full HD+ LTPS display with 2460 x 1080 pixels resolution. Further, the display comes with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 20.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone packs the Snapdragon 695 SoC, which is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In addition, the storage is expandable via a microSD card up to 1TB.
For photos and videos, the phone comes with a triple rear camera setup. It has a 50-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens, 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. It uses a 16-megapixel selfie shooter with an f/2.2 lens.
The device runs on Android 12 out of the box with My UX on top. It packs a 5,000mAh battery that supports 10W charging support and sports a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication.
The phone supports 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, A-GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS on the connectivity front. Additionally, the phone has a USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm Headphone jack as well.
Moto G Stylus 2022
The 4G variant of the Moto G Stylus 2022 is being offered at a pocket-friendly price which it makes it one of the most affordable smartphones with proper stylus support. Moto G Stylus 2022 features a 6.8-inch full HD+ display with 2460 x 1080 pixels resolution. Further, the display comes with a 90Hz refresh rate, 396ppi of pixel density and a 20:9 aspect ratio.
The phone packs the Mediatek Helio G88 SoC, which is paired with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In addition, the storage is expandable via a microSD card up to 512GB.
For photos and videos, the phone comes with a triple rear camera setup. It has a 50-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens, 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies and video calls, the device uses a 16-megapixel shooter with an f/2.2 lens.
As for software, the handset runs on Android 11 out of the box with My UX on top There’s also a 5,000mAh battery that supports 10W charging support. It offers up to two days of battery life on a single charge. It includes a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for security. The phone also has face recognition as well.
Conclusion
With smartphones becoming increasingly popular, it’s no surprise that styluses are starting to gain popularity, especially due to Samsung. Not only do they add a utility element to the smartphone, but they also offer a number of other benefits, such as being able to write on the screen with accuracy and comfort. So if you’re in the market for a new smartphone and want the added convenience of a stylus, be sure to check out some models that come with one included.
