S pen
A Note is only a Note if you can take notes on it. That's why Samsung has included a little pen, that can be stored in the case just like last year's Galaxy Note smartphone. When you take out the pen, a side bar appears with pen-specific shortcuts.
The S pen is much more sensitive according to Samsung. The pressure sensitivity has been increased from 256 to 1,024 levels, which makes using it even smoother.
Using the pen is much more pleasant than on the original Note. The accuracy has been drastically improved, and you notice the increased sensitivity. We tested this by drawing a continuation of a line, making it appear as if the whole line was drawn in one movement, and not in two separate instances. On the original Note this was virtually impossible, but on the Note 10.1 this could be done without a problem.
Remote
Samsung added a feature that lets you use the Note 10.1 as a remote control. Sony already did this quite well with its Tablet S. We tried it out, and the Note was able to find the televisions in our lab. The remote is not able to learn commands, which Sony's could. Judging from the user comments on this app in the Play Store, there is some room for improvement.
