The SPen stylus is one of the best features of the Samsung Galaxy Note line, except when it is not.
Reports that SPens inserted the wrong way in the new Galaxy Note 5 can break functionality of the phone are starting to mount. There doesn't seem to be any difference in resistance whether an SPen is inserted the wrong or the right way, which means careless users can inadvertently push the SPen in the wrong way and get it stuck or worse, force the mechanism that 'senses' whether the SPen is in or not. Not a good look for a premium $850 device.
The video above shows a review unit that lost the pen detection mechanism because of a wrongly-inserted SPen. The video also confirms that the earlie Galaxy Notes didn't have the same issue (i.e. they would not accept the SPen inserted the wrong way!), so its very surprising that this major design flaw got past Samsung's quality assurance. Seems like another black eye for a device that's already received a lot of flak for removing popular features (i.e. microSD expansion, IR remote capability and user-replaceable battery) that previous models enjoyed.
Source: Android Police
Samsung's reply to this debacle is the following statement;
We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure there are no issues.