I licked my Galaxy S25 Extremely’s S Pen so you do not have to

As a reviewer at Android Authority, I often get my fingers on brand-new smartphones earlier than lots of my colleagues. When that occurs, I do my finest to assist the crew by asking if anybody has any questions, considerations, or issues they’d wish to know throughout my first few hours with a brand new machine. Normally, the requests are easy, like how the telephone feels in my hand or if the charger within the field has a USB-A port, however not at all times. No, generally I get a request so surprising that I can’t assist however try it out.

So, right here’s why I licked my Galaxy S25 Extremely’s S Pen.

Let me be clear — I didn’t begin planning to lick the built-in stylus that got here with my Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely. I didn’t plan to make use of the S Pen fairly often, not to mention give it a style check. Nevertheless, after I requested for questions, feedback, or considerations, my colleague Aamir chimed proper in, asking, “Does the S Pen odor?” Apparently, he’d heard that the identical funky odor that was current within the Galaxy S24 Extremely hadn’t been mounted for the newer technology. And, being teammate, I popped it free from its slot to provide it a fast test. Sadly, the reply to his query is sure, the S Pen nonetheless smells.

Actually, Samsung’s newest built-in stylus, which now comes with out Bluetooth connectivity, downright stinks. I’d name the bouquet one thing between barely burnt plastic and oil, and it’s not precisely nice. It doesn’t appear to fade, both — or no less than it hasn’t in my week with the machine. Even now, after inserting and eradicating the stylus a number of occasions, I nonetheless get a whiff of plastic right here and there.

However, as I’ve realized, the primary query isn’t often the worst one. As an alternative, the follow-up questions are likely to get you in hassle. So, after I reported that the S Pen may most likely use a shower, my tech-loving colleagues started to take a position why that may be. Earlier than I knew it, our fearless managing editor, Ollie, requested, “Is it just like the Change cartridge factor the place it tastes terrible so youngsters don’t swallow it?”

I don’t find out about you, however I do know what a dare appears like. If I didn’t no less than do my due diligence and attempt to reply his query, we’d most likely each be upset. I pulled the S Pen again out of its slot, double-checked that I had mouthwash close by, and licked it.

To my nice reduction, it tasted like nothing. It didn’t have a single trace of the oily, burnt plastic I’d smelled simply moments earlier than, nor was it coated in a bittering agent that might assist preserve it out of kids’s mouths. If something, it was like I’d licked a plastic, reusable chopstick — and I couldn’t be happier about it. I didn’t need the S Pen to style like something, however I might have understood if Samsung had handled it in order that kids wouldn’t wish to chew on it or probably choke on it — not that it’s best to depart a small baby unattended with a $1,300 smartphone anyway.

With that, my time as an expert know-how taster has come to an finish. To any extent further, I’ll draw the road at smelling or tasting telephones, watches, and equipment, and sure, that features the Hershey’s Chocolate-branded Galaxy S25 circumstances.

All I can ask, expensive reader, is that you just do the identical, however if you wish to seize a Galaxy S25 Extremely in your personal style check, you are able to do so under. Simply don’t say that I didn’t warn you.