SPen alert - how does it work?

[bertsirkin]

I hadn't used my SPen in several weeks, but the other day, as leaving my office, I heard an odd sound from my Note 5 - I turned on the screen and saw the SPen warning ("Remember to attach the S Pen when you have finished using it"). I looked and found the S Pen was missing. I hadn't used it - not sure how it became detached. But it was now missing.

Now there is no S Pen in my phone. But, occasionally, when I leave my office, I get that warning sound and dialog box.

Am I correct that the only time that warning sounds is when the phone is NEAR the S Pen and the phone is moved away from it?? If that's the case, the S Pen is in my office, but I haven't been able to find it.

 

[SpookDroid]

Nope. The alert is active when the S-Pen is not in its holster. And it works using motion detection; when the phone 'feels' you're walking away from the S-Pen, it will activate.

You can take out the S-Pen, have it in your hand (as long as it's not being sensed by the screen) and walk around a bit with it and you'll get the alert.

If your S-Pen is missing you can turn off the alert altogether in the S Pen section of your phone's settings.

 

[bertsirkin]

... it works using motion detection; when the phone 'feels' you're walking away from the S-Pen, it will activate.

That's kind of what I thought - if it senses you're walking away from the S Pen, and if the only time it does that is when I'm leaving my office, then isn't it reasonable to assume the S Pen is in my office?

 

[SpookDroid]

Not necessarily. The sensor used to detect the S-Pen is inside the pocket; if it's there, it turns the alert off, and if it's not, it turns the alert on.

The alert is then triggered by the step counter and gyroscope in the phone to sense 'walking away', but it doesn't use any kind of sensor for the S-Pen itself (which is why it doesn't matter if you are walking around with the S-Pen in your hand or if you throw the S-Pen across the room and then walk to get it).

All the phone knows is that the S-Pen is not in its holding place and that you're walking. The S-Pen's sensor range isn't enough to be detected beyond close proximity of the phone.