Galaxy Note Is Pressure Sensitive. True?

I’ve read in several places that the Galaxy Note S Pen stylus is pressure sensitive.

Can it be true?

Do we have pressure sensitivity on a smartphone (or tabphone) at last?

Sorry. I still just love my Galaxy Note, but try as I might, I couldn’t find many places where its S Pen stylus was truly pressure sensitive.

I tried varying pressure on the stylus in the Galaxy Note’s own S Memo app. No result. No variation either in width or transparency.

The only app that did respond to S Pen pressure was Drawing Pad.

Drawing Pad is a joy to use. It’s instantly responsive on this Android device, whether to finger, S Pen or one of the many other touch screen styli you can buy.

Promising…

Well, with the S Pen In Drawing Pad on my Galaxy Note, the paint brush did at least change from thick to thin – but there was very little variation in between.

Maybe when Ice Cream Sandwich comes along, things will be better. Ice Cream Sandwich is promised very soon…

Tags: android, brushes, digital painting, DRAWING OR PAINTING ON APPLE OR ANDROID, drawing tablet, painting, purple owl, s pen, samsung galaxy note, stylus, tips, valerie beeby

I’m comparing the experience of painting an imaginary apple in various apps on various touchscreen tablets and phones.

This apple was painted on my iPhone 4S.

I have to confess the iPhone screen felt cramped and faded after painting on the bigger, brighter Samsung Galaxy Note.

There are many more artists’ painting apps for Apple devices than there are for Android machines. I had a wide choice of drawing and painting tools. I was pleased to find that Art Rage, a favourite on the iPad, has now been added to the choice for the iPhone…

…but hey, stop, wait a minute! I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to suffer from a nasty case of  iPad app overload. I was actually rather relieved to find that Art Rage for iPhone has fewer brushes and variations than for the iPad. The choice of painting tools and apps for the iPad is now so overwhelming that I’m having to limit the number I use.

I used several Art Rage brushes to finger paint my iPhone apple in many colours, blending them in with the palette knife.

Texture was added in FX Art Studio.

The apple was finished off and signed in Sketchbook.

Tags: apple, art, brushes, creative, digital artist, digital painting, drawing, DRAWING OR PAINTING ON APPLE OR ANDROID, drawing tablet, galaxynote, iPad & iPhone Painting, iphone apps, Iphone Painting, painting, purple owl, valerie beeby

I find myself using my Samsung Galaxy Note more and more. I was really surprised to read so many half-hearted reviews when the Note first came out. Even now there are complaints that the phone is too big…the back is too plasticky…the stylus is old fashioned…

Pardon me, ladies and gents. I’ve had my Galaxy Note for some months, and to me it seems just the right size. The back is lightweight and unlike my heavy, chilly iPad, warm to the touch. The stylus is really useful.

For all that big, bright, beautiful screen, the phone is small and light enough to slip in a pocket.

I’m pleased to see Samsung have now recognised the virtues of their Cinderella phone. I’m now noticing big ads and posters here, there and everywhere for the Galaxy Note. An American launch is almost upon us. A promotion is under way for London Fashion Week, with the smartphone being issued to models and fashion writers. Let’s hope it gets rave reviews.

Is the Galaxy Note a big phone – or a small tablet? Well, neither and both. It’s a tablet phone.

The stylus or ‘S Pen’ is a big improvement on the HTC Flyer stylus. It allows fairly decent handwriting, and in my case, more precise detail than a finger for fine drawing.

I recently got an iPhone S2 to compare with my Galaxy Note, and of course, I had to go back on the apples (see previous posts) to contrast the experience of painting an imaginary apple on each phone.

The Android apple above was painted in the Note, with the painting apps Drawing Pad, Magic Doodle and Picsay.

Next, an Apple apple. Of course my iPhone doesn’t have a stylus, but it does have many more painting apps to choose from.

Tags: android, apple, art, artist, comparison, digital artist, digital painting, drawing, drawing tablet, fruit, iphone apps, mobile, painting, purple owl, samsung galaxy note, tablet, tips, valerie beeby

Do a search for ‘Painting’ apps in the Android Market and very few apps come up. Are all the developers waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich? Aha, but search for ‘Drawing’ apps and – abracadabra! Suddenly page after page of drawing and painting apps for Android tablets and phones appear.

Now you have a different problem.

How do you know which drawing apps are best with such a bewildering multitude to choose from, most of them free or costing ludicrously little? How do you sort out the reasonably serious painting apps from the silly hat and fairground mirror brigade?

I would not have picked out Drawing Pad, which proclaims it’s just for kids, if I did not already have it on my iPad.

Drawing Pad does not look promising.

Drawing Pad has no layers, no pinch zoom while you paint, no adjustment of width or transparency for pens, pencils or brushes.

Unlike its iPad brother, Drawing Pad for Android offers no smudge facility to blend your colours. You can’t use your own photo as a background. You can’t import your own artwork as a rubber stamp.

Altogether that adds up to a dead loss, wouldn’t you say?

Yet Drawing Pad is gorgeous. It’s one of my favourite drawing and painting apps. I rate it among the best.

Drawing Pad is fast. The S pen stylus for my Samsung Galaxy Note just glides along, laying down luscious colours from tempting rainbows of brushes, crayons and pens. Colours are wedded to the tools they belong to, as in real life, but there’s a big range to choose from.

You can of course paint with your finger or a soft tipped stylus like the Pogo or Boxwave, the two I happen to have. Any are instantly responsive in Drawing Pad, at least on my Galaxy Note.

I believe Drawing Pad is only available for a limited number of tablets and phones. I was going to try it on the Android HTC Flyer, but could not find a version for the Flyer, even though it has a larger screen than my Galaxy Note.

Tags: android, art, brushes, design, digital artist, digital painting, drawing, DRAWING OR PAINTING ON APPLE OR ANDROID, drawing pad, drawing tablet, flower, galaxy note, ice cream sandwich, photo, purple owl, valerie beeby

Here you see the colour wheel for the HTC Flyer tablet stylus in all its glory.  I have to admit it. That’s not a lot. Eight colours even counting black and white.

With a feather light touch and bit of luck you can blend these hues with the highlighter tool. However, just in case you get over-excited, the highlighter offers only half the colours, four.

Never mind. The Flyer stylus offers at least a beginning hint of pressure sensitivity. Something tablet and smartphone artists are keen to get their fingers on.

The HTC Flyer sylus can only be used with its own drawing app.

Happily there are quite a few Flyer tools. Pencil, ball point pen, brush, calligraphy pen, marker, highlighter and eraser.

All  tools come in a choice of 5 widths.

Pity about that limited palette. To be fair the HTC Flyer stylus is only really made for making notes, highlighting text, signing documents and such. For those office tasks the Flyer can be really useful.

Tags: android, brushes, digital artist, digital painting, doodle, drawing, drawing tablet, notepad, purple owl, sketchbook, smartphone, tablet, tips, valerie beeby