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Google might have an official stylus and keyboard for the Pixel Tablet soon
A 'relaunched' Pixel Tablet could finally get the accessories it needs
We've been hearing about an official Google stylus and keyboard for the Pixel Tablet for a while now. Even before that tablet's official release, there were little tidbits of information floating around that hinted that the accessories were coming. As the release of the tablet came and went with no accessories at launch, folks managed to find evidence hidden in code, but almost a year has passed, and we've yet to see these devices come to retail.
Samsung's S Pen has become synonymous with advanced stylus functionality for its flagship smartphones and tablets. From its humble beginnings with the Galaxy Note series to becoming a part of the latest Galaxy S24 Ultra, the S Pen has come to offer features like pressure sensitivity, tilt recognition, and convenient Bluetooth controls for remote actions.
Samsung Galaxy S Pen vs Apple Pencil 2: The best styli from either camp
Write, draw, and annotate until your heart's content
While your fingers can easily navigate your device’s touchscreen, they don’t give you nearly the precision you get from a stylus. This precision enables you to write, draw, color, and edit documents that would otherwise be too difficult to do with a finger alone. While various stylus types are on the market, the industry standard boils down to the Samsung Galaxy S Pen and the Apple Pencil 2.
Boogie Board Blackboard review: Not quite a pen-and-paper replacement
Sometimes the old ways are better
I love how convenient laptops and Chromebooks are for notetaking, but sometimes I still want to write things down with a pen. Whether drawing out a graph or marking up a document, a pen can be much easier. Writing might also be significantly better than typing into a document, depending on how you process information.
How to enable Gboard's handwriting input on any S Pen Galaxy device
This developer toggle gives stylus users a reason to ditch Samsung Keyboard
We love to hate Samsung Keyboard. It's understandable, Samsung has included some cool features in its keyboard over the years, but the core aspect of text input leaves a lot to be desired, so users have to choose between useful functionality and a good typing experience from an alternative like Gboard. One of the features I've often missed when switching away from the Samsung Keyboard is automatic handwriting input when the S Pen is detected. Thankfully, a feature Gboard added last year can now be enabled more widely.
Whether you're a designer, doodler, painter, or someone who just needs to take notes on your favorite Android tablet, a stylus can help you do it all. As you can expect, there are a plethora of stylus pens on the market. But not every stylus is made equal. Some are good for drawing and designing, whereas others are only suitable for note-taking and basic doodling.
Does the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE come with an S Pen stylus?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE is a versatile device, but does it maximize its potential and include an S Pen stylus?
In an effort to appeal to what its users truly want, Samsung produced the FE (Fan Edition) line of smartphones, tablets, and earbuds. Available at competitive pricing, devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE are a balance of function and cost, ensuring you get the features you need from the best Android tablets but aren’t paying for what’s perceived as bloat.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is continuing proof that Samsung shows no signs of stopping. Not only is it one of the best tablets on the market, but it’s also built to last in more ways than one. Behind the scenes, a rock-solid Exynos chipset delivers fast performance for all your streaming content and in-app needs, and a powerful battery that pushes up to 20 hours of use on a single charge.
Best stylus pens for Chromebooks in 2024
The best stylus pens for everything Chromebooks have to offer
If you're primarily a productivity user, even the best Chromebook is seriously hampered without the addition of a great stylus. A stylus really unlocks the potential of a touchscreen Chromebook and helps it stand out from traditional laptops. The best styluses unlock the ability to scribble down notes, sketch out ideas, or even annotate photos or websites in real time, not to mention the obvious artistic applications.
This is how Android 14’s stylus features will work
Notetaking with a Bluetooth stylus will be a breeze on Android 14
Android 14 has so far introduced a ton of big and small changes, like new lock screen customization options, faster phone unlocking using a PIN, notification flashes, and much more. Besides these changes, Google’s upcoming smartphone OS has added a few native features for a connected stylus. And now, we have a live demo of how Bluetooth styli will work with note-taking apps on an Android 14 tablet.
Latest leak keeps hope alive for a Google-made Pixel Tablet stylus and keyboard
Leaks claim that Google is working on a stylus and keyboard for its Pixel Tablet
Half of the fun of following upcoming smartphone and tablet releases is trying to figure out which leaks are legit and which are fabricated. Since the Pixel Tablet was in the unique position of being unveiled a whole year before its launch, there were an unusual amount of rumors around it. One had us excited about potential first-party accessories from Google, but it never came to fruition. Now, there's new evidence to rekindle hope.
Can I buy replacement Amazon Kindle Scribe pen tips?
Ready to unleash your inner wordsmith, but your pen tip is worn down? Don't panic!
Every bookworm worth their salt owns or wants to buy an e-reader. These devices are a more portable and convenient alternative to paperback or hardcover books, with displays that look and feel like paper and batteries that can last for weeks or months. Some e-readers even have the added advantage of writing and drawing with an active stylus pen.
Google is making Chrome more stylus-friendly for text input with Android 13
Thanks to a little help from Samsung
You know how school likes to throw a bunch of group projects sat you sometimes? Well, you could say Android and Chromium (from which ChromeOS, the Chrome browser, and other web browsers) essentially are just big ol' group projects. Thanks to Google, their open-source nature has brought together all sorts of features from all kinds of contributors. Samsung is probably the biggest one and it seems like we're about to get another feature courtesy of the company in time for Android 13 — this one should add marvelously to its advertised tablet friendliness.
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It's a post-LG Mobile world. For a while now, the only option you had for a budget-friendly phone with a stylus was the Motorola G Stylus series. With two versions at disparate price points, Motorola was well-positioned to be the only game in this niche. The T-Mobile-bound TCL Stylus 5G shakes that up a bit by bringing some premium specs and features down to a lower price.
The affordable TCL Stylus 5G debuts with a 50MP camera and a Dimensity 700 under the hood
Motorola better watch out; there's a new budget stylus in town
TCL has been rising in popularity lately, ranking 4th in US smartphone market share behind Motorola and just ahead of Google and OnePlus. The manufacturer has found success with budget devices in particular, and this latest isn't about to change that formula any. This week the company is announcing its Stylus 5G, with a price that's ready to go head-to-head against the non-5G version of Motorola’s own budget-friendly G Stylus.
Moto expands its budget lineup yet again with Moto G Stylus 5G and Moto G 5G
Moto now has more Gs than a 90s rap album
Motorola has been on a roll lately, growing faster than any other Android OEM as it gobbles up the market share left by LG's withdrawal from smartphones. A big component of its strategy appears to be making a phone at every conceivable price point, from the bargain-basement Moto G Pure to the updated Edge+ flagship. The latest additions to the Moto G family fall somewhere in the middle. The Moto G Stylus 5G is a tweaked version of the 4G Stylus from earlier this year, and the Moto G 5G is a slightly cheaper MediaTek-powered device with no stylus. Although, "cheaper" is a relative term here—both phones are a bit more spendy than you'd expect at $499 for the Stylus 5G and $399 for the Moto G 5G. They could have trouble competing with the excellent budget phones already on the market.
Moto G Stylus (2022) review: Motorola's true flagship
Motorola's most important phone needs some work
Read update
Motorola is no stranger to making budget-friendly phablets with a stylus—the new Moto G Stylus is the company’s third such phone in recent years, and this seems like another competent entry in that nearly nonexistent category. This model has some nice-to-have features that are usually skipped in flagships, like a microSD slot and a headphone jack, as well as increasingly common features in the budget segment, like a fingerprint reader and a 90Hz display.
If we're talking about a stylus 'round these parts, it's usually an S Pen. Samsung's stylus isn't the only option, though. The Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) provides technology for the pens that work on many Chromebooks, and it's getting better in the new 2.0 release. It only has a few new features, but one of them is a clever way to charge accessories via NFC coils.
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Motorola announces a new Edge+ with a borderline ridiculous price tag
Going toe-to-toe with the big boys again
Motorola sells a lot of phones, but they're mostly the cheap ones you can get for a pittance at your nearest carrier storefront. It did not release an updated flagship phone in 2021, but that changes in 2022. Motorola has announced a new Edge+ smartphone with the latest hardware and software. However, it's even more spendy than the last Edge phone at $1,000. Moto is promising a $100 discount at launch, but we don't know when that will be yet.
Motorola has been on a roll lately, having slipped seamlessly into LG's mid-range niche to sell more phones in the US than ever before. The company's current lineup has some very cheap phones and a few almost-flagship devices, and now it's filling out the middle with the new Moto G Stylus. Of course, it's still got the built-in stylus, but you no longer have to sacrifice battery capacity for it, and the camera module has been upgraded to a 50MP sensor. That's not bad for $300.