As an important lesson from the hit show Game of Thrones taught us: the pointy end goes in first. That goes for sword fighting, as well as re-inserting the S Pen of your new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 back into its dedicated slot. As many users have begun to realize that although the S-pen is able to get into the slot the wrong way without resistance, they may be unable to remove it – or cause irreparable damage to the phone in an attempt to remove it.
This design flaw has boggled many experts' minds. Previous models of the Galaxy Note did not have this problem because the S Pen would be unable to get into the slot at all. However, because the pen slides in so smoothly in the Note 5, even if it is in the wrong orientation, some users who are not paying attention, may only find out their error too late.
In addition, some users have pointed out that even if they were able to successfully remove the S Pen from the slot, some features of the phone ceased to work properly such as pen detection. As well, as Android Police found in their test device, once the mechanism for the S Pen clamps down on it the wrong way, removing and re-inserting the pen simply will not work anymore.
“Pen detection on our review unit is completely broken, and during the making of this video in an attempt to show how easy it is to insert the stylus the wrong way, the S Pen became hopelessly jammed in the slot, and I am now totally unable to remove it without the assistance of tools I'd rather not try, in the interest of avoiding further damage to the device,” said Android Police in their review and video of the flaw.
The website uploaded a video of the obvious design flaw in the device which many cannot believe made it past the quality control of a company of Samsung's caliber.
The design of the new S Pen is largely to blame. The pen's shape is basically the same on both ends, which is why the slot gives it zero resistance when inserted improperly, but once the clamping mechanism locks down on the wrong end, that's where all the problems begin.
Many smartphone review websites which have encountered this problem have reached out to Samsung for comment and possible fixes. Perhaps a new free S Pen for customers who already bought the unit, or a complete recall of existing units until the problem is fixed. It is obviously a problem that can potentially happen often and whatever solution is found will possibly be very costly for Samsung for overlooking it in the first place.
