re: I'm in the market for a new phone and have no clue what to get.

You don't have to use the S pen. You can hand write text, edit photos, edit documents, different things most people would never use.

You can buy a C pen for the S3 touse with the Smemo app, I don't have one but am looking at getting one. The thing I don't like about the C pen is having to carry it in my pocket. I will lose it.