Develop Bugs

[Q] Does the Xoom BT keyboard work on AOSP ROMS?

Just wondering if anyone has tried the Xoom BT keyboard on any of the AOSP ROMs? Specifically, do all or any of the Android shortcut keys work? Or would I be better off spending less money on a generic Windows BT Keyboard?
Here is the KB I am referring to...
http://www.walmart.com/ip/MOTOROLA-89451N/15779800

I guess I'll answer my own question, more to provide information for others. I went to Fry's today and picked up one of these keyboards and was very happy to see it working with Decks Gingerbread ROM. There are some hotkeys not working right, but for the most part this this is awesome. A co-worker went with me and bought one for his Xoom and it works great on that as well! Here is a list of things that aren't working (so far).
- Menu button does not bring up the menu (but fn + F1 does).
- Things get weird in landscape mode:
-- Left/Right arrows perform Up/Down operation and Up/Down arrows perform Left/Right operations.
- Hot key for launching Google Music App (when it's set as default) fc's every time (but app does launch manually).
- When in the browser, you have to use the Search button to type in a URL (there is no way to navigate or arrow to the URL entry box).
- Seems to work much better in portrait mode.
- Have to use arrows to navigate from text box to text box, the tab key does not tab like it does in Windows.
I would love to see an app that would allow you to remap the keys, but haven't found anything in the market for this. If you know of something that would help in this regard, please post a reply.
I previously connected a Dell BT Mouse and got that working perfectly, so I can't wait to get home and use the mouse and the KB together. I am also going to try out the HDMI mirroring and see how well this will preform as a stand alone console. If any one is interested in the outcome, reply to this thread. Otherwise I'll just let it die off slowly...

Logitech Android Keyboard + Hacks and Fixes

So, I ordered one of these directly, and stupidly from Logitech and it just arrived yesterday. Stupidly because it has been in stock at Fry's for some time now... (The actual Android version, not iPad one).
Now that the keyboard is in my hot little hands, it is awesome, just pure pure awesome.
I did a couple typing tests on typingtest.com and scored 101wpm without errors (usual typing speed is 110-120wpm on a full-sized ergo keyboard); it could probably be better once I get used to it. (TypingTest.com itself is a pita, because the browser keeps trying to steal focus away from the flash typing test; I found a javascript one that I also scored 101wpm on) Although the UI lagged when typing that quickly. A negative of the keyboard: it might feel a bit too light when typing, but it is completely functional.
So... onto using it in applications... in connectbot none of the necessary keys worked at all, no esc, no tab, no ctrl nor alt. I couldn't stand that, so I wrote up a patch this morning to fix0rs it. I have a pull request open and hopefully it'll be integrated soon. The patch works generically across all keyboards that are compliant to the Android 3.0+ specs. The transformer dock kinda gets gypped here because their keylayout is so stupid (no esc, alt on right, etc).
Speaking of keylayout... that's where my next nits lie, most of the keys are pretty great, they're in the correct location. With a couple exceptions: 1) caps lock is left of a, and ctrl is in the bottom left; 2) the alt and search keys are swapped in position, alt should be adjacent to the space bar, and the search key, like the windows key, should be left of alt; 3) there's no recent apps/task switching button, there is a menu button, but I'll rarely use that.
Given those problems, I hacked up a new keyboard layout that: 1) swaps ctrl and caps lock (but the LED works a litte funky, ok otherwise); 2) swaps the search and alt positions; 3) puts the recentapps action on the menu key.
To install the keyboard layout, do the following:
1) have root on your device
2) unzip LogitechAndroiKeyboard.zip
3) adb push LogitechAndroidKeyboard.kl /sdcard/
4) adb shell
* $ su
* $ mount -o remount,rw /system
* $ cd /system/usr/keylayout
* $ cat /sdcard/LogitechAndroidKeyboard.kl > Vendor_046d_Product_b30a.kl
* $ mount -o remount,ro /system
* $ exit
* $ exit
5) Connect your keyboard and enjoy the new keylayout as described above.
This keylayout can be reverted at any time by removing Vendor_046d_Product_b30a.kl and reconnecting; this is a new file that will be created by following the above steps.

definitely something i will do when my keyboard arrives!
Did you also swap the keys physically? If so, was it hard to do?
Do you think it is possible to somehow to add other letters, like ÆØÅ, instead of hotkeys or any other keys I would find unnecessary? I'm really struggling to find a proper BT keyboard with Scandinavian/ Nordic layout.

paua__ said:
definitely something i will do when my keyboard arrives!
Did you also swap the keys physically? If so, was it hard to do?
Do you think it is possible to somehow to add other letters, like ÆØÅ, instead of hotkeys or any other keys I would find unnecessary? I'm really struggling to find a proper BT keyboard with Scandinavian/ Nordic layout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I did not swap the keys physically--I only updated the keyboard layout to work as I wanted.
If you want to change the character mapping like you say, it will probably take a combination of the .kl file I included and editing /system/usr/keychars/Vendor_....same_as_I_said.kcm
I only need a US layout, so I didn't need to tweak any of that.

Cool. SERIOUSLY checking the keyboard now..thanks.

Sorry to ask this, but will this prevent the native keyboard from popping up when you start to type with a bluetooth keyboard?

Mr3G said:
Sorry to ask this, but will this prevent the native keyboard from popping up when you start to type with a bluetooth keyboard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It doesn't

pfn said:
No. It doesn't
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, its tough when the native keyboard takes up the whole screen.

Mr3G said:
Thanks, its tough when the native keyboard takes up the whole screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might consider submitting a bug report(or feature request) to Google to have this fixed in a future version of Android. Probably won't make it into 3.2, but we can hold out hope for implementation in Ice Cream Sandwich. This behavior should at least be configurable.
Thanks for the review of this keyboard. I'm wanting to see how the Samsung Keyboard case turns out (and if it becomes available for a reasonable price from a third party), otherwise I might consider this Logitech keyboard. The bonus for this keyboard is that it would be useful with more than just my tab - on my HTPC for example, which has built in Bluetooth.

Question for you regarding the menu button: Did it work for you?
I have this keyboard and when I press my menu key I was hoping it would bring up the app drawer or something. It does nothing.

A similar samsung keyboard for the 10.1 tablet:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

ccapasso said:
Question for you regarding the menu button: Did it work for you?
I have this keyboard and when I press my menu key I was hoping it would bring up the app drawer or something. It does nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The menu button serves the same function as the menu button on an android phone--for most honeycomb apps, it'll do nothing (same as in the launcher, nothing) since the menu button doesn't invoke the actionbar. Only pre-honeycomb apps with a menu are activated by the menu button
On my tab, I have MENU set to pop up the recent apps list.

pfn said:
The menu button serves the same function as the menu button on an android phone--for most honeycomb apps, it'll do nothing (same as in the launcher, nothing) since the menu button doesn't invoke the actionbar. Only pre-honeycomb apps with a menu are activated by the menu button
On my tab, I have MENU set to pop up the recent apps list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me how to remap the buttons? I want to remap my menu key to do something. Also, the "Calendar shortcut" on the keyboard doesn't launch anything either and I'd like to remap it too.
***Edit***
I see I can open the .kl file in Notepad++ and it shows what the layout is. However, I'm not familiar with the key layout (which number corresponds with which key) nor am I familiar with which command to put to have the menu do something. I assume there is a list I could reference?

wow ....anymore info about this ....?
Akerfeldt said:
A similar samsung keyboard for the 10.1 tablet:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

rainby said:
wow ....anymore info about this ....?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's this one:
http://www.expansys-usa.com/samsung-bluetooth-keyborad-case-fo-galaxy-tab-10-1-219894/
Edit: Here's some pics:
http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-3126_7-10008260-4.html

ccapasso said:
Can you tell me how to remap the buttons? I want to remap my menu key to do something. Also, the "Calendar shortcut" on the keyboard doesn't launch anything either and I'd like to remap it too.
***Edit***
I see I can open the .kl file in Notepad++ and it shows what the layout is. However, I'm not familiar with the key layout (which number corresponds with which key) nor am I familiar with which command to put to have the menu do something. I assume there is a list I could reference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The .kl file is somewhat self-documenting; simply: look at the key you want to change, in this case, the one that says MENU, and replace it with the action that you want it to do. Look through the .kl files (and any others) and see what actions sound interesting, put that name in there instead of MENU and you're good to go.

pfn said:
The .kl file is somewhat self-documenting; simply: look at the key you want to change, in this case, the one that says MENU, and replace it with the action that you want it to do. Look through the .kl files (and any others) and see what actions sound interesting, put that name in there instead of MENU and you're good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I'll take another look. I did some searching yesterday and there are a variety of .kl files in the folder on my Tab. Any idea which one in particular to edit?

ccapasso said:
Question for you regarding the menu button: Did it work for you?
I have this keyboard and when I press my menu key I was hoping it would bring up the app drawer or something. It does nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having an issue with the Home button. My soft keys light up, suggesting that signals are being passed, but the app drawer doesn't open...
Grr!

I bought one of the Logitech Android keyboards from Best Buy last week and ended up returning it. I thought it was too big and heavy to carry around much. I have a Stowaway bluetooth keyboard thats works great with Android so I'll be sticking with that, much easier to tote with me.

esuohe said:
I'm having an issue with the Home button. My soft keys light up, suggesting that signals are being passed, but the app drawer doesn't open...
Grr!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The home button is not for opening up the app drawer. It does the same thing as the home soft button...

sweet keyboard
http://imgur.com/a/CPOnY
just wanted to chime in on this keyboard.
its pretty great. i use it for school when i need to take notes.
my only gripe about it is that it weights as much as the tab.
Also, if you use a case that can stand the tab up, such as pyro's or what have you then the extra carrier case that they keyboard comes with cannot be fully utilized. I rate the thing 4-out-5.
there is a new keyboard case thats out (ithink) but its 99 bux, i mean if money is no object get it I think its pretty sweet also.
u can get this keyboard for 30 bux online from Logitech. All you need is a logitech coupon that will give you 50% off.

I have mixed feelings about the software buttons

android phones are prone to hangs due to incompatible and poorly managed apps, i have custom roms installed, all optimized and stuff but occasionally i still need to restart my phone using the three button combo because my phone wont respond at all, the home button is a physical button that is sure to send a signal to the underlying hardware which is very useful for overriding stuff, in the event of hangs, how does the gnex deal with it? the power and down button is already reserved for screenshot..sigh..guess be prepared to take out the battery then..
another thing is, the home button is a quick go to action for exiting no matter what you're doing and its location is fixed, with a software home button, it changes location and even hides, not very intuitive..
if they really have wanted a maximum real estate, why didnt they just put the home button at the top or the side but maintain it as a hardware button
i guess well just have to see from reviews when the gnex comes out, after all honeycomb tablets have no physical home buttons anyway

Maybe they use the same thing as on the sgs II. Long press of the power button and it reboots.
And I like the fact that it doesn't have hardware buttons (except volume and power) because of two things:
1. Clean front (looks great).
2. Hardware buttons could brake.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using XDA Ultimate App

LordButtersI said:
Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but that is the problem
how would "home" button work, if the screen is hung, and the buttons are not responding, when say you were in a game or playing a video, and it hung, then you have no access to the "home" button
that's why i prefer a real button or at the very least the capacitive buttons, than a software button

Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.

martonikaj said:
Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess what the other posts are trying to say is this:
Even if a specific app may freeze completely, the software buttons should still work. Crashing apps normally don't freeze the whole OS because they're running in a Java Virtual Machine, but since they're often fullscreen, you need to press the HOME to exit the app. This should still work with the software buttons (as long as they're visible in the app) because they're running outside the frozen Virtual Machine.
I have an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer since its release. It runs Honeycomb and comes without hardware buttons as well. But the Transformer never got totally unresponsive, some apps froze, but the software buttons still worked perfectly normal.
edit: the post below this one is actually a better explanation than this, read it and you'll get it

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchscreen presses are captured by the OS and then passed onto app event handlers. With past Android versions, when an app hang, the OS is still responding to and dispatching touchscreen events, but because the app in the foreground handling the events isn't doing anything, it looks like the system is not responding to touchscreen events.
With ICS, the OS has handlers for touchscreen events, not just apps, due to the software buttons. The OS makes sure that if the system bar is hidden, any sort of interaction with the system, including touchscreen events, bring up the system bar. Thus if the foreground app hangs, touching the screen should still bring up the system bar and let you press one of the three keys.

if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button

My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.

degeneration said:
My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they are very similar. The problem is that both are sub-optimal solutions. One the one hand you don't get physical keys with tactile feedback. On the other hand you don't get to use the space taken up by the buttons to display other things when the buttons aren't needed. If Google's goal in designing ICS/GN is to maximize the screen real estate through the use of hideable system buttons, then they went halfway and stopped short and ended up with a solution that isn't particularly good for anything. To go all the way with this idea, you'd need a dedicated home button somewhere else, like on the side as the OP suggested. Then the system keys can truly become part of the application, rather than a constant part of the system, and can be hidden, customized, etc. depending on application context, and allows full screen apps to truly take advantage of the screen real estate. As it stands now, only video playback can take advantage of the whole screen, with anything else you are frequently interacting with the device and the buttons will pretty much be there the whole time.

They take up quite a bit of screen real-estate. If they could be auto-hidden without popping back up every time you touch the screen, it would be vastly superior. I still maintain there should be an option for a bezel swipe gesture to show the buttons, which would auto-hide after 5 seconds or so of disuse.
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
In any case it isn't going to turn me off the phone - I'm sure some clever developer will make a 'fix' for it (and will definitely receive a donation from me when they do ) and it's still an unbeatable screen besides.
Also, I don't terribly mind the lack of bezel-reduction, because the phone still looks so damn slick.

I'm sure someone will come up with a ROM that hides the buttons etc. fairly shortly.
I've had a year with the Nexus S, and the only real difference is on that the buttons are etched onto the bezel - it's still handled in software exactly the same way. Never had an issue with it.
On my tablet, software buttons are really handy since the charging cable is (for me) on the wrong side.. so I hold it the other way up and the buttons obligingly flip onto the other side for me.

Sjael said:
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.

mastapsi said:
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a 100% screenshot from the Nexus and viewed it on my Droid 2 at my screen's native res (854x480, 16:9 just like the nexus.) Difficult to describe what I mean, so have a photo:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
The ICS buttons in the screenshot are pretty much the same size as the Droid 2 capacitive keys, however on the Nexus, that very same image will be displayed but 1" larger, so the buttons will be quite a bit larger on the Prime.
Also I erroneously said that they were bigger than the capacitive keys in my last post, which isn't correct on second inspection.

AllGamer said:
if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty big "if". I'm a bit miffed that the search button is gone now as well. I use it more than I think do; let's just say.

My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.

the_colombian said:
My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for my Galaxy Tab.
Have had some apps crash/hang using custom rom on it but the home button have still worked so I think we are safe with SGN

I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the homescreen the search bar is on every screen.
In the app, they expect devs to implement a search button/bar within the app (or its options menu). It's really not that hard to understand.

[Reference] S-Pen Capabilities and Usage

About the S-Pen:
---------------------------------
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
The S-Pen can be used as a stylus, tapping much more accurately on the screen than you could with your finger, but it also functions as so much more. The technology used in the S-Pen is Wacom's. Wacom is a well known company that makes drawing pads, used by artists to draw on a computer. You can read more about the technology here:
http://www.wacom-com...nology/emr.html
The Menu and Back buttons on the bottom of the device are capacitive. As the S-Pen is not capacitive, you cannot press them with it. See below under 'Device wide functionality' for a way of using back and menu anyway without just tapping them with your fingers.
While the S-Pen is detected as pointing at or touching the screen the capacitive sensor and buttons will not be functional. This is to prevent you from accidentally pressing something while resting your hand on the device and using the S-Pen, but it isn't very reliable if you don't keep the pen very close to the screen at all times.
The S-Pen can now be used by developers! Which means that non-samsung apps are starting to pop up which make use of the full functionality of the S-Pen. Right now only a few drawing applications have chosen to support it, but hopefully more will in the future. To find more S-Pen enabled apps open the Samsung App Store and select S-Pen Apps.
As it uses wacom technology, the S-Pen can be replaced/supplemented with any wacom pen. Pens with two buttons where one normally functions as an eraser can also be used! Remember to enable S-Pen detection when the pen is inside the device, or just remove the S-Pen for the wacom pen to be detected.
The S-Pen is pressure sensitive. In some applications where you can draw you can press gently for a slimmer line, or harder for a thicker one.
Configuration:
---------------------------------
You can configure Popup Note to open when you remove the pen. Go to Settings->S-Pen. Other useful configuration options exist here, so take the time to browse them. Checking the battery saving option is critical and has no downsides.
The S-Pen Keeper option purports to sound and alert when you walk away from the device without the s-pen. The device has three things to work with to implement this functionality: Being able to detect when the pen is in the device, detecting when the pen is pointed at or touching the screen, and the accelerometer. When the pen is not in or pointing at the device and the accelerometer has "shaken" enough the notification will sound. If you don't shake much when you walk, it will take it a -long- time to sound.
Under Settings-Lock screen, you can select if you want to be able to use Popup Note on the lock screen. Decheck this for a slightly faster screen turn on rate if you don't use it.
Air View:
---------------------------------
When enabled in Settings->S-Pen "Air View" tracks the s-pen as it hovers up to half and inch over the screen.
When hovering over an area where simply hovering will not take an action the cursor is an empty circle. In areas where it will take an action the cursor changes. Other cursors include a filled circle and arrows, for example.
In most stock applications you can hover over a button to view its function.
Hover near the edge of the screen (top, bottom, left, right) in almost any application (even non-stock) where you can scroll and the screen will scroll in the desired direction.
In many applications the hovering cursor is viewed as a mouse cursor would be. This can be used to play flash games where the cursor location is important. It can also be used to display drop down menus on websites.
Stock applications like Gallery and Video Player have additional air view functionality. Hover over a gallery folder to preview pictures inside it. Hover over the video timeline while playing a video in Video Player to preview the video at that point.
Text which is cut off due to being too long can often be viewed by hovering over it. This is very useful in notifications and the My Files browser.
Device wide functionality:
---------------------------------
Some functions of the S-Pen can be used almost anywhere on the device - even in games! Most of the functionality requires you to press the button found near the bottom of the pen and draw on the screen (while touching, not hovering).
Press and hold the button and draw around any area of the screen, such that the ending point touches or comes near the starting point. A screenshot of the encircled area will be taken and displayed on the screen. Tap an icon on the bottom of the screen to send the screenshot to your desired program. It will be saved the the sdcard/Pictures/Screenshot directory and copied to the clipboard as well. If you touch no icon, it will still be saved and copied. Quickly hit the 'X' near the preview of the screenshot to discard it.
Press and hold the button, then touch anywhere on the device and hold still to take a fullscreen screenshot. The screenshot will then be displayed in an editor. You can draw and write on the screenshot using the S-Pen. See the options at the top of the screen to switch drawing and text options. Click the checkmark to save the screenshot, or the 'X' to discard it. Screenshots will be placed in the /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots directory if left untouched, or the /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots/IMG_edited directory if you draw on or otherwise change them.
Any text that can be selected, even in most programs that do not support the S-Pen, can be selected by holding down the button and then drawing a line over it. The normal text selection brackets will then appear and can be used to refine your selection.
Press and hold the button, then quickly tap twice anywhere on the screen to bring up S-Memo. You can then write anything you wish without closing the running program.
Press and hold the button, then draw a straight vertical line from near the bottom of the screen to near the top. This will open Quick Command. More information on Quick Command can be found below.
Press and hold the button, then draw one of the predefined symbols below anywhere on the screen to activate the corresponding function.
Back: An arrow (with no tail) pointing to the left.
Menu: An arrow (with no tail) pointing up.
Undo: (Where applicable) Draw a line from right to left.
(Continued in the next post)

The Samsung Keyboard:
---------------------------------
If you select the Samsung Keyboard in Settings->Language and Input you can use the S-Pen for handwriting recognition input anywhere you can use the keyboard. To activate handwriting recognition, press and hold the microphone icon on the keyboard:
Then select the 'T' text input icon:
Write in the center box that appears. The system will turn your input into text with a slight delay. It is quite accurate and can even interpret cursive - if your cursive is very clean and proper.
While in the keyboard, draw a line from left to right to put in a space. Draw a line from right to left to press backspace (you can also just tap the backspace icon on the top).
Tap the 'A' icon at the top to change the keyboard to numeric input mode, which is more accurate at recognizing numbers and equations.
Tap the '123 Sym' icon to bring up a quick, tappable menu of numbers and symbols.
Press and hold the microphone icon, then select the keyboard icon to return to the normal keyboard.
Quick Command:
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Quick command can be used anywhere on the device to take a predefined action or execute a macro. Access quick command by pressing the S-Pen button and drawing a line from the bottom to the top of the device. Any length of vertical line should work, it doesn't need to be precise.
Once the Quick Command screen pops up, you can draw one of the predefined icons followed by text, or define your own macros. To define your own macro, press the settings button in the upper right of the Quick Command screen, then add a command. You can open an application or select functions. In functions, you can set more than one action. "Mute and enable bluetooth" for example. Once selected, you can draw or select one or more characters and symbols to activate the action, and then use those symbols in Quick Command!
S-Note:
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S-Note is one of the applications always pinned to the bottom icons in the Touchwiz Launcher. It is the showcase app for the S-Pen.
If you take partial screenshots with the S-Pen and send them to S-Note, they will appear in the Scrapbook.
To create a new Note, use the '+' icon. You don't have to be in a folder.
Once in a note you can write and draw as you wish. Hover over icons to see their functionality, or press and hold them to bring up more options. The third icon on the top row allows you to switch between drawing, formula match and text input modes.
While in drawing mode and not touching the screen press and release the S-Pen button to switch between eraser and draw modes.
Tap the image icon for a menu allowing you to insert pictures, video, etc. This menu can be scrolled down for more options, if in landscape mode. One cool option is 'Idea Sketch'. After selecting it you can write the name of something you want a quick image of, and the device will search for it.
Tap the red circle icon to begin (and then stop) recording your drawings as a video. To playback these recordings close and save your note, open it and press the 'Play' button.
A full, useful tutorial on S-Note can be found by pressing the menu key, scrolling down in the menu and pressing Tutorial.
I'm sure I've only scratched the surface of what is available when using the S-Pen. If you have any new tips or tricks, or want to write up a section on another app that uses the S-Pen, make a post and I'll add it to the reference! I also plan on making an S-Pen quick reference screen in the future, if there is any interest.

Post reserved for future expansion.

S Pen right click

It appears that S pen is functioning like a mouse in android - for example in dosbox hovering will move mouse around and tapping will click it. And as far as I saw (screenshots only, so excuse me if I'm wrong) CM will also recognize S pen as mouse pointer.
However, there is a small problem: there is no right click. And since I don't use gestures really: Is there a way to remap button on S-pen to function as right click?

matejdro said:
It appears that S pen is functioning like a mouse in android - for example in dosbox hovering will move mouse around and tapping will click it. And as far as I saw (screenshots only, so excuse me if I'm wrong) CM will also recognize S pen as mouse pointer.
However, there is a small problem: there is no right click. And since I don't use gestures really: Is there a way to remap button on S-pen to function as right click?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking for the same thing and I've tried many apps with no results, but these apps might point you to the right direction:
CM S Pen Add-on Can detect the S Pen button actions.
Xposed Addition Can remap hardware buttons.
So the thing to get the S Pen button actions be recognized as buttons. Then it would be easy to remap it with Xposed Additions.
Good luck!