S pen cursor problems - wrong cursor when hovering link or button

[JohanJohan]

When hovering the s pen over the screen there's a small circle showing on the screen under the pen tip.



You can change the circle to something else using the Pentastic app (included in Samsungs Good Lock app).



Or, when using the built in screen recorder you can tap a button to show a larger blue cursor instead of the circle.



This is pretty neat if you are recording guides and tutorials for example.

BUT I don't find it useful since the cursor turns into that small almost invisible circle when hovering a link or button. This is true for non Samsung apps. This is confusing and looks unprofessional.

Here is the s pen hovering the background (look at the cursor)



Here is the s pen hovering a button (look at the small circle)



I hope Samsung will fix this issue.

I think it´s bad and I will not use this for tutorials. What do you think?

Or is there a workaround?

 

[evohicks]

Settings/advanced features/S Pen/Air View/ then choose your setting.

 

[JohanJohan]

Thank you evohicks for posting.

I found this settings before and I had it set to "Pointer only" since I did not want previews.


I now tried to set it to "Previews and pointer". And you're right, there's a difference between "Pointer only" and "Previews and pointer". "Previews and pointer" turn the customized cursor (or screen recording pointer) to the small circle, in more cases.

Since I already had the setting set "Pointer only", the problem in my first post remains and my screenshots are valid.

With "Pointer only", there's still problems in non Samsung apps, like apps from Google and Microsoft.

 

[Gary02468]

Thanks for documenting this! I think it's the sort of bug Samsung might actually address if you send them an error report via the Samsung Members app.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Thanks for documenting this! I think it's the sort of bug Samsung might actually address if you send them an error report via the Samsung Members app.

I wouldn't hold your breath on it though.

 

[JohanJohan]

I might give it a try.

 

[JohanJohan]

Samsung wants me to submit the phone for service. But I suspect this is a s23 Ultra problem. Not just my phone.

I would be really really thankful if someone could confirm or deny the cursor problem on another S23 Ultra device? If someone could test it on a Galaxy s22 Ultra it would also be great!

Could someone please do the following:

1. Go to Settings/advanced features/S Pen/Air View/ then choose "Pointer only".


2. Activate screen recording



3. Grab the S pen and tap the cursor icon.



4. Open Play Store. Go to Apps tab.

5. Hover S pen over "Top charts". Do you still see the cursor or did the cursor now turn into this very small circle?




6. Hover S pen over "Search for app". Do you still see the cursor or did the cursor now turn into this very small circle?



7. What is your phone model (eg S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra)? In what region/country did you buy the phone?


Thank you so much!

 

[danhartman26]

I tried this on my factory unlocked S22 Ultra on Verizon (U.S.), and my results are what you describe - cursor turns to the dot when hovering over Top Charts and Search for app.
I think this is just how it is designed rather than a bug. I personally wouldn't want that large cursor to still be present when I hover over an item because I think it would block the view of what you want to see when you hover...

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Gary02468]

I see the same behavior as you on my S22U (S908U1, US unlocked). It has nothing to do with your particular phone, or even your model. It's a longstanding, universal bug. Tell Samsung to just try it on any S22 or S23 and they'll see for themselves.

 

[JohanJohan]

Thank you so much danhartman26 and Gary02468!

I forgot to put choose "Pointer only" in the instructions. I now edited the post above and added a new step 1. I understand if you don't have the time, but if you want to you, or someone else, could try it again with the "Pointer only" setting. (Pointer only setting makes the cursor visible in more cases, at least in Samsung apps). With this information I can be more specific when reporting the bug to Samsung.

 

[JohanJohan]

I think this is just how it is designed rather than a bug. I personally wouldn't want that large cursor to still be present when I hover over an item because I think it would block the view of what you want to see when you hover...

If you prefer this it's totally fine but I will try to explain why I don't think it's the design:

This is not how it works on a computer. Also in Samsung apps the pointer is visible most of the time you hover a link/button. In Samsung Internet you got a cursor visible all the time but hovering a link or a text field shows another cursor, like a pointing hand.

In an app where most of the area is clickable it would mean that you don't see the cursor at all.

If you use the cursor as an accessibility feature it´s hard to know that you actually will tap/click the button or the right button when the cursor disappear.

When recording the screen it's confusing that the cursor disappear. You are holding the pen and you know that you are clicking/tapping the button, but someone looking at the recording don't know where you click/tap. The small circle is almost invisible. That's why you want to use the cursor feature.

If you want to read the button/link text you can move the cursor a little bit to the side.

If people want to use the cursor features and want it to disappear when hovering a link/button, this could be optional in the settings. Also it should be consistent for all links/button in an particular app and consistent between different apps (samsung/nonsamsung).

 

[Gary02468]

I forgot to put choose "Pointer only" in the instructions.

I see the same behavior with Pointer Only selected.

Thanks for pursuing this with Samsung! I find it can take some persistence to convince them a software problem is real, but with clear documentation they usually come around.

 

[danhartman26]

Same thing with the added step.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[JohanJohan]

Thank you so much! I now did report this to Samsung in the members app.

 

[mustang7757]

Thank you evohicks for posting.

I found this settings before and I had it set to "Pointer only" since I did not want previews.
View attachment 351148

I now tried to set it to "Previews and pointer". And you're right, there's a difference between "Pointer only" and "Previews and pointer". "Previews and pointer" turn the customized cursor (or screen recording pointer) to the small circle, in more cases.

Since I already had the setting set "Pointer only", the problem in my first post remains and my screenshots are valid.

With "Pointer only", there's still problems in non Samsung apps, like apps from Google and Microsoft.

I believe the S pen works with Samsung built-in apps and why you're seeing issues with non Samsung apps

 

[JohanJohan]

I believe the S pen works with Samsung built-in apps and why you're seeing issues with non Samsung apps

I understand if making it work in the Samsung apps is their first priority. It doesn't work 100% though but it´s much better. Also, the setting "pointer only" is different than "previews and pointer", not just the thumbnails. So I guess they got some tweaking to do. And it might be possible for Samsung to fix it altogether by tweaking Pentastic, the built in screen recording app and (Samsung's version of) Android. Thank you for your input though.