The Galaxy Note 8’s S Pen has new pen powers, including translation

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 comes with an S Pen, as have previous iterations, but it does a bit more than versions past. The new S Pen’s highlight feature might be its Live Messages ability, which creates shareable animations from handwriting and doodles so you can message and publish them wherever.

The Note 8 S Pen also features a translation feature, which means you can highlight text with the pen via hovering, which will then provide a block of translated text in your primary language. This is a cool feature that goes beyond similar offerings on other devices in terms of convenience, and works well for business users who are frequently Note 8 fans because of its note-taking abilities.

In addition to translation, it also converts currency using this same mechanic, which is another great time saver speaking as a Canadian who frequently deals with American currency. Both of these are pretty great travel-oriented features.

Another cool new S Pen thing – Samsung has improved the always-on display note-taking feature with 100-page capacity, letting you write on the display while it’s mostly off for longer, which is great for battery preservation and for using this while doing other things like taking calls.

The new S Pen ships with the Note 8, and loads into its “chin” on the right side. It’s been a selling feature for the Note line for a while, and I’m actually impressed at how Samsung has iterated its stylus in a smart way with this update.