Samsung has never been one to sit back and wait for certain trends to manifest before endorsing them. Take the edge, for instance: it’s a unique design language that wasn’t even spoken of in the tech world before Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge. All of a sudden, the edge is now “the new flat,” with even Chinese smartphone manufacturers wanting the design trademark for their devices (BlackBerry’s Priv is the earliest testament to Samsung’s design genius).
The Korean giant is working hard at becoming a renown software company these days, but its decision to focus on software doesn’t mean that smartphone hardware has lost its edge (pun intended): Samsung can now take this opportunity, in the midst of smartphone saturation in the worldwide market, to do what it was once bold and daring to do: experiment with its software.
The Galaxy Note 5 has had its share of criticism, but Samsung brought three new features to the device that made the Note lineup even better than before: 1) Write on PDFs, 2) Scroll Capture, and 3) Off Screen Memo. It is the latter feature that dominates this discussion, and it is the one feature, I believe, that will propel the Galaxy Note series to even newer “Galaxies.” We will take a look at what Off Screen Memo is as well as what Samsung can do to make this feature more of a must-have in the Galaxy Note 6.
Off Screen Memo defined
What is Off Screen Memo? Off Screen Memo is a feature that allows you to jot things down when your screen is black (hence, off-screen) and send them to S Note.
Three ways Samsung can make off-screen the new on-screen in the Galaxy Note 6
While this feature is one of my top favorites on the Galaxy Note 5, and it has potential for growth, it is limited in its current form. This is to be expected since Samsung just unveiled it nearly a year ago now, but I’d like to see Samsung expand Off Screen Memo’s capabilities in the Galaxy Note 6. Here are three ways I believe Samsung could make Off Screen Memo the new “on-screen.”
The Galaxy Note 6 should have automatic Off Screen Mode detection sans S Pen pullout
Currently on the Galaxy Note 5, you have to eject the S Pen from its slot and pull it out of the device before the device recognizes that you want to write using Off Screen Memo. The only problem with the current setup in the Galaxy Note 5 is that my screen is not always off. In other words, I could be reading news and get the desire to scribble off-screen.
Unfortunately, I have no way to activate the feature unless I cut my display off and pull the S Pen from its slot. If I’m using the S Pen, though, and I want to write off-screen, the process is a little longer: I must place the S Pen back in its slot, then re-eject it and pull it out before I can utilize Off Screen Memo.
There needs to be some sort of automatic off screen memo detection that recognizes I want to write in Off Screen Memo, before I put the S Pen back in the slot if I’m writing with it. The best way to enable an automatic Off Screen Memo detection here is to make the Off Screen Memo feature a quick toggle that’s accessible from the drop-down notification window.
In the same way that Ultra Power Saving Mode is a quick toggle, so should Off Screen Memo be. If I’m reading news and simply want to jot down my thoughts off-screen and escape the social media craziness of the day, I could just press the toggle, watch the display turn black, and then begin writing.
The Galaxy Note 6 Off Screen Memo should let you write emails and social media posts – and send them off-screen
Social media is everywhere these days, and I’d like to see the Galaxy Note 5’s Off Screen Memo make its presence known in one of the most enjoyable activities for smartphone consumers when the Galaxy Note 6 hits the market.
Currently, you can only write messages and save them to Samsung’s own S Note. Sure, you can write social media messages, save them to S Note, then send them where you want – but this seems to be a roundabout way to do something that Samsung could make easier with fewer barriers in the Galaxy Note 6.
The Galaxy Note 6 Off Screen Memo feature could let you write emails right from the off-screen and, from the same place, send that Gmail email or Google+ post to persons of interest or an intended group from the off-screen.
Consumers like to check their phone 150 times a day for notifications and time, as I’ve said before. If this is true, then consumers could have an Off Screen Note function on the Galaxy Note 6 that lets them take care of some easy things without turning on their phones.
Where there’s a Scroll Capture, there should be a Scroll Write
Have you used the Galaxy Note 5’s Scroll Capture? It allows you to take a screenshot of something on-screen, then press “Scroll Capture” and roll the screenshot all the way to the bottom of the page so as to capture longer screenshots.
The Galaxy Note 6 should take the current Off Screen Memo and create what I’ve labeled a Scroll Write feature: that is, as you write, you can see former words roll up the screen as you encounter nothing but one long, scrolling “black” page down the display. When you reach the end of the display and the “black” paper, the display starts to push your words up and continues scrolling the “page” so that you continue to write more.
I’ve been writing off-screen on the Galaxy Note 5 for extended periods of time, and it’s frustrating that, upon reaching the bottom of the display, I have to save what I’ve written, put the S Pen back in the phone, then pull it out again to write something new. A Scroll Write feature on the Galaxy Note 6 would let me use Off Screen Memo (or Off Screen Note; Samsung, I think you should rename it this!) for as long as I desire. I wouldn’t have to turn my phone display on for an entire hour if I wanted to sit at the beach and journal, or plan the outline for my next SamMobile column.
Conclusion
The Galaxy Note 6 will be here before we know it, but the Galaxy Note 5 gives Samsung a great phablet with which to craft its next one.
Off Screen Memo is a must-have feature for me, and I want Samsung to make this a priority in the Galaxy Note 6 software experience so that others can enjoy it as much as I do. Currently, Off Screen Memo is a neat feature that seems isolated from the rest of the mobile experience, and it is too good of a feature to remain estranged to the point where many will eventually view it as a “gimmick,” nothing more without seeing its true potential.
“Orange is the new black” and “edge is the new flat,” but Samsung’s expansion of the Note 5’s Off Screen Memo could create a new tech trend: that is, “off-screen is the new on-screen.” It’s just one more way the Korean giant can set itself apart from its rivals in what will be its most prestigious phablet ever.
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