Samsung Fixes Galaxy Note 5's S Pen Design Flaw

Samsung has fixed the design flaw that was getting its otherwise impressive Samsung Galaxy Note 5 smartphone bad press and furious letters from customers. The new model of the company's top-of-the-line smartphone is said to circumvent the "pen-gate" issue.

The South Korean consumer electronics giant confirmed to The Verge on Tuesday that it had made changes in the mechanism. "Samsung can confirm that the Note 5 internal S Pen mechanism has been changed to avoid the issue caused by inserting the S Pen incorrectly. As always, we recommend following proper instructions for storing the S Pen," the company said.

Samsung has introduced a greyish white "switch" that allows the S Pen to eject when it is inserted backwards, reports Phandroid. The cap is seemingly attached to the motherboard with a piece of adhesive tape. It is not clear how reliable this solution is though the report claims that the mechanism does it job well.

Last year, several users complained that the S Pen (the digital stylus) that ships with Galaxy Note 5 is getting stuck inside the handset when inserted backwards. Trying to pull it forcefully, they added, destroyed the stylus detection mechanism, making certain functions useless.

Samsung was quick to address the issue, at the time only advising users to read the manual to avoid it. The problem, as many users noted, was that the top and bottom of the S Pen look almost identical in thickness, making them easy to mistake. Furthermore, the Galaxy Note 5 didn't offer any warning or resistance when the pen was inserted the wrong way.

For what it's worth, Samsung also started to put a plastic wrapper on new Galaxy Note 5 that made people aware of the issue. "Be sure to insert your S Pen with the nip pointed inward. Inserting the S Pen the wrong way can cause it to become stuck and can damage the pen and your phone," the message read.

It's comforting to know that the company has finally done something substantial to prevent users from breaking their S Pen.