DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States1, announced the winners of the Samsung Galaxy Note™ S Pen™ App Challenge.
“The goal of the Challenge was to tap the S Pen’s unlimited potential for content creation engagement with the ingenuity of the Android app developer community,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. “The results exceeded our expectations, both in terms of quantity and quality. This challenge is just one example of our constant expansion of the S Pen integrated apps ecosystem.”
Entries were judged by a five-member panel of representatives from AndroidCentral.com, AT&T, BlueRun Ventures, Gameloft and Samsung Mobile. The judges evaluated the apps based on the quality of the idea, S Pen integration and overall user experience. The challenge included a “Popular Choice” category, which invited the public to vote on submissions online.
The winning submissions include:
Best Overall App – Grand Prize - $100,000
- “Monkey Write * Learn Chinese” by Chiu-ki Chan (Square Island LLC): Learn to write Chinese with Monkey Write – a game that makes it fun to learn. Chinese characters are written in a specific order to give them structure. Follow the stroke numbers to learn to write each character.
Best Overall App – Second Prize - $50,000
- “Maze Racer” by Roger Peters (SmartyPantsGaming) and David McCanless: Maze Racer is a simple maze inspired game where you draw a line from start to finish. In Maze Racer, you get rewarded stars based on how quickly you reach the finish. Maze Racer is optimized for precision from the S-Pen over traditional finger input.
Best Overall App – Third Prize - $25,000
- “Drawing Pad” by Christopher Lott and Daren Murtha (Murtha Design): Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio with a beautiful user interface that puts the fun into creating art. Drawing Pad provides amazing realistic textured brushes with the pressure sensitivity data of the S Pen.
Popular Choice - $2,000 and a Galaxy Note
- “SignDoc Mobile” by Softpro North America: Professionally capture user-handwritten signature using pressure sensitivity of the S Pen.
Honorable Mention - $2,000 and a Galaxy Note
- Games – “Speed Draw” by Ferdouse Khaleque and Kabir Khaleque
- Productivity – “Papyrus” by Andrew Hughes (Steadfast Innovation)
- Media – “FlipaClip” by Visual Blasters team members Jonathan Meson and Tim Meson
- Sports – “Playcall” by Sargon Benjamin
- Entertainment – “Colors! For Galaxy Note” by Jens Andersson (Collecting Smiles)
- Travel – “Map Note” by Base 2 Applications, LLC
- Social – “Authorgraph” by Evan Jacobs (To the Reader, Inc)
- Lifestyle – “Makeup Paint” (Modiface Inc.)
- Education – “iAnatomy” by Anouk Stein, M.D.
- Other – “bConnected @ Ball State for Galaxy Note” by Ball State University team members Kyle Parker, Valerie Morris, Ryan Bitzegaio, Brandon Smith, Ian Gibson and Brice Brenneman
Developers used the Samsung S Pen SDK to integrate S Pen functionality. Winners, app entries and more information on the Challenge can be found at http://galaxynotespenchallenge.com/. More information on the Samsung Galaxy Note, an all-in-one device that allows users to communicate in a unique, personal way, can be found at http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-I717ZBAATT.
1 Number one mobile phone provider in the U.S. claim for Samsung Mobile based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics, Q4 2011 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Reports.
About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungwireless.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.