Pen support on phones is pretty rare. If you"re not in the market for something from Samsung"s Galaxy Note lineup, there really isn"t anything else. That"s why several Reddit users were surprised to find out that Motorola quietly included pen support in its Moto Z4 handset, which launched today.
The smartphone supports Microsoft"s technology that"s used in Surface Pens, called N-Trig. Various OEMs besides Microsoft also use the technology in their pens. We tried testing it with a Wacom pen from a Galaxy Note, and didn"t have the same luck.
According to the numerous Redditors that tried this out, it works pretty well, and it supports pressure sensitivity. The eraser even apparently works as a back button.
While Motorola didn"t explicitly talk about the feature, it does show up on the product spec sheet. Under "Stylus", it says "Compatible with Microsoft active pen protocol". What"s not clear is why Motorola decided to include it and not advertise it; these features don"t show up by accident. It costs money too, a surprising move for a phone that felt like it cut corners to hit a lower price point. We reached out for comment.