We are all familiar with pengate by now. For those who aren't, pengate is an attractive name for a design flaw in the Galaxy Note 5 that messes up S Pen functionality if the stylus is inserted backwards (that is, with the tip pointing outwards). On newer units, Samsung has fixed this problem through a simple yet smart hardware change, but it seems there is another issue with the stylus that not many people are talking about.
A couple of days ago, I removed the S Pen from my Note 5 and started to use it on the screen, only to notice that the screen wasn't responding to the stylus. There was no hovering dot on the screen, the dot that denotes that the S Pen is close to the screen and has been detected. I restarted the phone, things went back to normal, but then I realized that my Note 5 isn't detecting when the stylus is being removed or inserted. I also had to disable the S Pen power saver option to make sure at least the S Pen could be used for screen operation instead of being totally undetectable.
When the phone does detect that the stylus has been removed, but it only happens a minute or so after I've actually taken it out. It also goes haywire sometimes and gives me the S Pen removal notification repeatedly before settling down. It's a nuisance, to be honest – I can no longer use the screen off memo feature on the Note 5, and I have had to restart the phone a couple of times so that the S Pen works properly.
Read More: Review: Samsung Galaxy Note 5, two months later
Apparently, I'm not the only one with this issue. As people in this thread on the XDA forums have pointed out, this is an issue on other units as well. Units manufactured in India seem to be affected, which explains why my Note 5 has the problem and it could have something to do with poor quality control given Samsung hasn't been assembling its flagships in the country for too long.
Users in that XDA thread say the phone needs to be replaced, and one commenter said he had to get two Note 5's replaced before he received a unit that works as it should. Updating the software supposedly doesn't work, so I haven't tried doing a factory reset and will be taking my device to the nearest Samsung service center to apply for a replacement.
Have you faced this issue on your Galaxy Note 5? If yes, is there anything you did to fix it other than getting a replacement? Do let us know in the comments; we have asked Samsung for a statement and will update this story with a response should we get one.
