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The best S Pen apps for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, II, Neo, 8.0, 10.1 and NotePRO

posted by Daniel P. / Feb 06, 2014, 9:50 AM

The best S Pen apps for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, II, Neo, 8.0, 10.1 and NotePRO

With the Note family Samsung carved out an entirely new market niche in the great nothingness formed after the resistive touchscreens with stylus were replaced by capacitive ones where you use your finger for navigation.

It was a bold move that required two risks - introduce a giant screen phone in an era when the average smartphone display must have been about 4" or even less, and equip it with a stylus decent enough not to stay in the silo most of the time.

The first Note proved that people were waiting on precisely such a combo, but the subsequent phones and tablets in the range really confirmed the latent demand, as they came with even larger screens in a more compact form, and a greatly improved stylus that can be put to a good use in more situations. Don't forget this year Samsung went mid-range with the franchise, releasing a budget Note 3 Neo phablet model, too.

We are rounding up some of the best Android apps that take advantage of the S Pen stylus in the family, apart from the excellent stock ones like S Note, in case you've grabbed a Note handset or tablet, and are heading for a Play Store window shopping spree.

The best S Pen apps for the Samsung Galaxy Note family

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19 Comments

1. imsickwithsmartphone

Posts: 153; Member since: Jan 28, 2013

Thanks PA for this info :) This will make my galaxy note much better....

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 7:43 AM 16

13. rd_nest

Posts: 1656; Member since: Jun 06, 2010

The Hancom "Office" app inbuilt for all Tab/Note Pro devices is the best app that I have seen recently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bejig7vQPeE (non-english video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmgZoHbqbMw Seriously!

posted on Feb 06, 2014, 11:39 AM 0

2. richardyarrell2011

Posts: 510; Member since: Mar 16, 2011

Sketch em, and traces are also other great applications to have on your Galaxy Note or Galaxy Note 2 find those also in the Google Play store. Samsung has done a great service to current Galaxy Note family devices and opened up a clear market that will great with each upcoming device. And most of all the applications are ported into the Google Play store which is also excellent.

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 8:19 AM 8

3. erdpov

Posts: 67; Member since: Dec 07, 2012

Thanks people for such useful apps! Samsung you're going to rock this year with you upcoming sdevices. Keep popularizing this direction of your awsome work and people's hearts and minds will be in your backyard!

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 8:28 AM 9

4. piyath

Posts: 2445; Member since: Mar 23, 2012

Huh... Nicely said man..

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 8:41 AM 1

5. BillyG

Posts: 305; Member since: Sep 24, 2012

did you took some sPill??

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 9:01 AM 1

6. GALAXY-STORM

Posts: 328; Member since: Oct 13, 2012

He wisely skipped the iPill.

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 10:35 AM 8

10. samashok

Posts: 6; Member since: Feb 14, 2013

lol...

posted on Feb 14, 2013, 8:29 PM 1

7. 1ceTr0n

Posts: 549; Member since: May 20, 2012

Go Note, or go home

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 12:17 PM 2

8. SleepingOz unregistered

I remember someone once said that the s-pen is pointless.. Lmao!

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 3:11 PM 7

9. Myrith

Posts: 57; Member since: Feb 17, 2012

LayerPaint is a pretty great drawing app that's probably even better than Sketchbook Mobile. Its best feature is probably the ability to undo and redo using the physical volumn buttons. Makes the drawing process a lot faster. It also has a watercolor brush tool (blend brush), which is a staple for a lot of desktop computer artists, that I don't think any other mobile drawing app has.

posted on Feb 07, 2013, 8:22 PM 1

11. SalmonPaste

Posts: 1; Member since: Apr 04, 2013

Serious Paint is also a great app for painting and drawing on a Note. It's about the closest thing to being on a workstation, in terms of natural brushes and color selection etc.

posted on Apr 04, 2013, 8:26 AM 1

12. livyatan

Posts: 867; Member since: Jun 19, 2013

And some people here say they will replace their Note 3 with the Lumia 1520. Losers

posted on Feb 06, 2014, 10:24 AM 1

15. williamdroid

Posts: 125; Member since: Jan 19, 2014

The comment section was fine until you posted. Why hate? I love my Note 3. I am getting the Lumia 1520. Why? Because its an awesome fone as well. If you dont like it or its OS, why even bring it up on a Samsung article? Its people like you that give us Android fans a bad rep.

posted on Feb 06, 2014, 4:56 PM 0

16. joey_sfb

Posts: 6794; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

I was not aware that so many s pen enabled Android apps. Note is in the third generations and its finally gaining developers support.

posted on Feb 06, 2014, 11:46 PM 0

21. The13thKing

Posts: 849; Member since: Feb 26, 2014

Who buys nokia :| ? You must be old i guess :\ sorry bro but our guess here is that you're lying. Good luck anyways with thebest selling phones in the world Nokia lol

posted on Feb 27, 2014, 3:46 AM 0

14. ianbbaa

Posts: 332; Member since: Mar 20, 2013

where is HandyNote...or HandyMemo....those are great ones - also LectureNotes is great

posted on Feb 06, 2014, 11:54 AM 0

19. Ishmeet

Posts: 111; Member since: Sep 16, 2013

Just the thing I wanted to see. Have been an owner of Note II since a long time, but couldn't find too much of s pen optimized apps. And, btw, doesn't the note line has sketchbook for galaxy app by autodesk already preloaded, it's just the same as sketchbook pro, except for it's small optimizations for the s pen, like the air command menu.

posted on Feb 07, 2014, 6:18 AM 0

20. Psykotik_Dragon

Posts: 81; Member since: Dec 21, 2013

It's only preloaded on the Note2014 tablet & the Note3 phone...there is an apk out there that let's you get it on the older Note devices (such as Note2 or Note10.1) & it works admirably...I replaced the sketchbook Mobile I previously had with no regrets.