Pen Useful?

[CaptainTime]

I have had 2 Galaxy Notes (original and Note 3) that had built in pens. They were cool to show to other people but I never used them other than that for two reasons.

Firstly my handwriting is atrocious. I am a fast typist so keyboards have always worked better for me. And I am not really artistic so drawing pictures on a tablet isn't something good for me.

Now I have the Surface Pro 3 and another pen. I didn't even bother to stick the tab on the keyboard to hold the pen and I just put the pen in a drawer.

Am I missing something. Is there some great use for a pen on the Surface Pro 3 that would make it worth taking along when I go out?

 

[Tsurugaya]

Well, it kind of depends on your work and things like that. I take a fair amount of notes and having OneNote on both my phone (Galaxy Note 3) and my Surface Pro 3 makes that both easy and smooth.

 

[mitchellvii]

Funny. I returned a Yoga 2 Pro (which I honestly loved and had an i7 CPU and 256 gb SSD for the same price as the i5 128 SP3) JUST for the pen functionality. To this point, I pretty much NEVER use the pen. I'm not an artist and I don't ever have the need to take written notes (I type much much much faster than I write) so that's probably the reason. However, if I were to take a class or need it for writing notes in a meeting, I'm sure it would be quite handy.

Another benefit of the SP3 over a Y2P is the 3:2 aspect ratio which is much better for using in portrait mode.

 

[agt499]

I share your atrocious handwriting and lack of drawing skill.
I have just gotten the pen button remapped, which apart from the novelty factor means I can use it for powerpoint or web forward/back. So it's cheaper than a presentation pointer, doesn't need a dongle, and looks nicer.
Sometimes I also like it for keeping my screen free of fingerprints.
Otherwise not using as intended.

 

[ctitanic]

 

[SeeVuPlay]

I love the pen....I probably have used enough digital ink to travel to the moon and back...

But I am an amateur digital artist and I have amazingly beautiful Hallmark-like handwriting, so....

 

[GreyFox7]

Aside from handwriting and drawing which are great the pen is much sharper than your finger and will on occasion get you out of a tight place that you couldn't otherwise manage. When you're jammed on a train or a plane sometimes a mouse/keyboard/trackpad just aren't feasible. The pen, don't leave home without it.

 

[jnjroach]

I'm an inker, I have inked notes in OneNote dating back to 2003, but the pen also comes into play in tablet mode when some wanker web dev is still using mouse over menus in their site and not touch pointers ....

 

[5parky]

Yes.
I no longer need to carry pen and paper. Where tapping on a keyboard would be inappropriate in meetings the pen allows me to take notes.
The barrier created by a vertical screen causes a division between people, also when I see someone typing away I get the feeling they are not paying attention. Writing is far more acceptable.

 

[bluegrass]

I have had 2 Galaxy Notes (original and Note 3) that had built in pens. They were cool to show to other people but I never used them other than that for two reasons.

Firstly my handwriting is atrocious. I am a fast typist so keyboards have always worked better for me. And I am not really artistic so drawing pictures on a tablet isn't something good for me.

Now I have the Surface Pro 3 and another pen. I didn't even bother to stick the tab on the keyboard to hold the pen and I just put the pen in a drawer.

Am I missing something. Is there some great use for a pen on the Surface Pro 3 that would make it worth taking along when I go out?

Doesn't everybody like to doodle. It's fun to do it on your Surface. Who knows, you may even find out you can do some funny things like a cartoon. I too have pretty bad handwriting. It's something I lost because of computers. Maybe it's time we should all get back to doing a little handwriting and perhaps even send a handwritten snail mail note to an old friend or relative.

 

[Liam2349]

As someone else said, it depends on what you do.

I am a Physics student so I find the pen very useful. It's much faster than using the equation editor, which is fantastic and works amazingly well but the pen is still faster. So basically I find it most useful for math work, but I also use it to write on the page in English too. I also like to use the pen for Sudoku from time to time.

I remember one case in particular where I was asking my academic tutor about an experiment I did. I had to write a report and wanted clarification on some concepts, and after a lecture with him (he taught classes too), I walked with him with my Surface and pen so that I could jot down whatever he said - something that would be more difficult with a keyboard as you have no resting place.

The other main case I see is for artistic stuff. Architecture, works of art, stuff like that.

If you're an English student for example, you might not need the pen - not everyone does.

 

[kundas1]

I'm an inker, I have inked notes in OneNote dating back to 2003, but the pen also comes into play in tablet mode when some wanker web dev is still using mouse over menus in their site and not touch pointers ....

seriously!!! is it so bloody hard to make a web page for touch? especially in this day and age it should be MANDATORY