The year is 2015 and Samsung still hasn’t figured out that if a human is given the chance to do something dumb, they will. In this case, I am of course referring to the Galaxy Note 5 and the infamous S Pen debacle.
It might sound crazy if you haven’t been there, but if you stick the S Pen into the back of the Galaxy Note 5, you’re basically screwed because the S Pen immediately gets stuck inside the device thanks to a small hook mechanism. Samsung users such response? don’t do it
We recommend our Galaxy Note 5 users to follow the instructions given in the user guide so that they don’t face such an unexpected situation by re-inserting the S Pen the other way.
In this quote, Samsung admits that they didn’t expect users to stick with the S Pen backwards. I mean, that sounds like admission to me.
If memory serves me correctly, it took a while to get a fix, maybe a few weeks. It turns out that one would need a piece of plastic film, skillfully inserted into the device to push up the hook mechanism and release the S Pen from its death grip. We may be dumb enough to stick our pen in there, but at least we’re smart enough to get it out.
And frankly, no knock on those who have their S Pen stuck. It’s not your fault that Samsung didn’t make it happen. It is their job to plan for such things. That’s why on all front-facing Galaxy Note devices, there’s no fear of your S Pen getting stuck inside when you insert it backwards. On the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you can’t insert the S Pen back more than 1/4 inch before a mechanism stops you. Fantastic work, Samsung.
These were the good old days, man.