Steve Jobs once questioned the need for a smartphone stylus when people have five such tools attached to each hand, but Samsung has still decided to supply one with the Galaxy Note GT-N7000. It slots into a hole at the bottom right of the case and is about the size of a ballpoint pen. On a smartphone with a capacitive multi-touch screen, it's about as useful, too.
The thinking no doubt is that a screen this size offers almost the same surface area as a notepad and so can be used as such. Indeed, the only stylus-specific app the Galaxy Note comes with is the template-based S Memo app (which still works with a fingertip), but while this offers the usual options for creating colourful scribbles, the screen response is too laggy to make it effective for note-taking and there's no handwriting recognition. It's also tricky to write on the screen in portrait mode without the hand holding the stylus making contact with the two touch-sensitive buttons below the screen, which interrupts the scribbling somewhat.
