XPPen Magic Note Pad tablet aims for designers, note takers, and book lovers

It wasn’t until recently that tablets shed off their “media consumption device” identity and stepped into productivity and content creation. The larger screen of the iPad Pro and its accompanying Apple Pencil proved that you can do a lot more on such a device. Over the years, however, this market has somewhat stagnated again, but the rise of E Ink tablets like Bigme, BOOX, Supernote, and reMarkable are once again shaking up the industry.

The only problem with the latter group of devices is that, even if they displayed colors, their displays were more muted and pixelated, better suited for reading text and nothing else. There are now a few tablets that are trying to offer the best of both worlds, delivering true colors and fast screen refresh rates for regular digital content while being friendlier on the eyes. One of those comes from a rather unlikely source, a brand that’s better known for color-accurate pen displays and drawing tablets for artists and designers.

Designer: XPPen

To be clear, the XPPen Magic Note Pad doesn’t use a Color E Ink screen or even a transflective LCD screen. It has a rather standard 1920×1200 display with a 90Hz refresh rate, 95% sRGB gamut, and support for 16.7 million colors. Its special sauce, however, is the three modes you can set for the display, depending on your activity or preference.

Nature Color Mode gives you access to the whole spectrum of hues that the screen can support and is best for content consumption, making digital art, designing, and other creative works. Light Color Mode dials the saturation down to reduce eye fatigue, making it more suited for taking notes, reading comics or books with illustrations, or even browsing the web. Finally, there’s Ink Paper Mode that removes all color for a more relaxing paper-like reading experience.

Beyond this, the XPPen Magic Note Pad is like a general-purpose version of its Magic Drawing Pad, both of which are Android tablets. In terms of specs, the Magic Note Pad leans more towards the mid-range tablet market, so don’t expect impressive gaming capabilities from this slate. That said, probably the only reason you’d even be taking a glance at this device is the integration of XPPen’s stylus technology, one of Wacom’s bigger rivals in this space.

The XPPen Magic Note Pad probably won’t satisfy more discerning e-book readers, as the black-and-white mode doesn’t exactly reduce eye fatigue as much as a true E Ink tablet would. But for someone who constantly switches between sketching, note-taking, and reading, the device is more versatile than any e-book reader, and also a little more affordable than the likes of the Galaxy Tab S with a price tag of $395.99 only.

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