Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It is daunting how skilled Chinese counterfeiters have become in mimicking the real thing. Externally, the nib is a little shorter. The variation of the stippling on the sides of the pen, and the variation in finish, is within reasonable manufacturing tolerance, though Samsung's Q/C is probably tighter. So how can we tell this is a counterfeit? The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 uses pen technology licensed from Wacom, who are the preeminent manufacturer of pen tablets for professional artists. Wacom digitizers have gone through a number of evolutions. Uniquely, Samsung managed to license Wacom's latest technology for the Note 4. They were probably able to strike a deal because the small size of the Note screen does not challenge Wacom's price points for their own products, which are very expensive. I also use a class of PC called a "Windows Tablet PC", which was devised by Microsoft, and supported by Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Now, of course, tablets are mainstream. But back in the day, the Tablet PC, from all the makers was, and still is, a nifty device for artists, because they all use the same Wacom digitizer. It is primitive compared to what exists now, but a tablet PC pen actually works with the Note 4, with some differences in behavior. The telling point is this. Hold the pen at an angle of 60 degrees from vertical, and touch the screen. The genuine Samsung pen causes the "sprite" to appear on the screen directly below the contact point of the nib. Not so with the counterfeit: it behaves like the earlier Tablet PC pen, where the sprite appears, not under the nib, but some distance in front of it. The earlier pen has no angle sensitivity. The counterfeit does not either, or it would know how to place the sprite directly under the contact point. Other than that, the counterfeit does work, with two additional differences: 1. The "hover distance" of the counterfeit, the height the pen can be above the keyboard for the sprite to appear on the screen,is slightly less than the authentic Samsung pen. 2. The counterfeit has lower pressure sensitivity. The active radius for the touch buttons at the bottom of the screen is less. This is probably why the nib of the counterfeit is slightly shorter: to make up for the reduced sensitivity. If you try to use a genuine Wacom or Samsung nib in the counterfeit, it might be troubling. So it appears that the counterfeiters managed to obtain the molds for the casing of the Samsung pen, and substituted in electronics pirated from an earlier generation of Wacom pen. Combined with the reports of subtle differences in weights of the "adaptive fast charger" I am reluctant to purchase supplies from little outfits via Amazon. I did get some batteries, and the external charger/battery combo, that are probably authentic. But I have some good news for those of you who are looking for a fast-charge alternative. I tried PWR+ wall charger, the type with two jacks, one Apple, and one non-Apple, in combination with a Cablestogo usb cable. These cables are distinguished by a lot of copper. They are stiff, thick, and heavy. When I tried the non-Apple port, the Note 4 seemed to charge slowly. But when I plugged the cable into the "A" port, it really took off, from 75% to 100% in 15 minutes. Perhaps Samsung has decided to make their phones understand Apple charging protocol. I have no other explanation.