I love the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, but the apparent S Pen bug leads to a lot of complaints.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s built-in S Pen is having trouble connecting to Bluetooth, something I’ve noticed since getting a review unit, and this has affected many users complaining about reddit (Opens in a new tab)And Twitter (Opens in a new tab)and Samsung Community forums (Opens in a new tab) (source PiunikaWeb (Opens in a new tab)).
Getting the S Pen out of its socket and ready to use can sometimes result in a “Connecting…” dialog hanging at the top of the Air Actions menu. Usually, this switches to full connection after a few seconds, but sometimes it fails completely. If you check the status of the S Pen in the Settings menu, it suggests that you reconnect the S Pen to enable Bluetooth, which requires you to re-open the stylus in its slot to pair again and then try again.
You don’t need a Bluetooth connection to write on the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s screen with the S Pen, so it’s not a serious issue. However, you need Bluetooth in order to use Air Actions, which allow you to use the S Pen as a remote control to navigate your phone and launch apps without touching the screen.
My experience with the S Pen
In my case, and as some complaints have also noted, it’s not a fixed issue. In fact, I don’t recall this ever happening since the last software update, despite the fact that it still happens to some users on the same version of One UI. But it is certainly an issue that reduces the usefulness of one of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s unique features.
While it doesn’t hinder the S Pen’s basic on-screen writing functionality, it was annoying having to put the pen away and remove it again a few times when I wanted to experience its advanced capabilities. This includes Air Actions but also simpler capabilities like Off Screen Notes, the feature that lets you jot things down quickly without unlocking the phone.
Possible solutions
There are two potential fixes that users have noticed in these threads. The first is to enable the “Keep S Pen connected” setting under the S Pen section in the advanced features options.
Secondly, you can try to reset the S Pen completely, from the same menu. I tried resetting the S Pen when I first had the issues, but I’ve been having Bluetooth disconnects ever since. However, I haven’t tried the Keep S Pen connected setting, so I’ve enabled it for now. It does use a bit more battery to maintain the connection, but hopefully that means it doesn’t disconnect abruptly the next time I start messing around.
Other TG employees aren’t sure that the S Pen is something most Galaxy S23 Ultra buyers will actually use, but it remains one of the phone’s best selling points along with its 200MP main camera, Galaxy chipset’s powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a beautiful display. All of these things add together to make the Galaxy S23 Ultra our current top pick for the best phones on sale today.
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