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Review: DIGIDRAW Turing 14 Pen Display

Teoh Yi Chie — Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Review: DIGIDRAW Turing 14 Pen Display

Review unit provided by DIGIDRAW

The DIGIDRAW Turing 14 is a 13.3-inch pen display released in May 2026. Price at the time of review is USD 365 on Amazon, and at the time of writing there's a USD 91 discount to bring the price down to USD 274.

The Turing 14 is actually one of two pen displays from the company. The other is the larger Turing Pro 19 with a touchscreen. The company also sells pen tablets.

I've not heard of DIGIDRAW before until the company contacted me to ask if I'm interested to check out their new pen displays. Turns out the founder is actually part of the founding team of Huion, which is probably why these new products look rather polished as a first generation product.

Specifications

Model	D1401
Color	Dark Night Black
Dimension	329 × 234 × 11.8 mm
Active Area	286.5 × 179 mm
Net Weight	900 g
Resolution	2560 × 1600 (16:10)
Color Gamut Coverage	99.5% sRGB, 90% Adobe RGB, 93% Display P3
Display Color	16.7M (8‑bit)
Full Lamination	Yes
Viewing Angle	178°
Brightness (typical)	220 cd/m²
Stylus	M5 Pen
Pressure Levels	16384
Tilt	60°
Initial Activation Force	2 g
Accuracy	±0.3 mm (center), ±1 mm (corner)
Reading Height	10 mm (center)
Resolution (LPI)	5080 LPI
Report Rate	≥220 PPS
Adjustable Stand	Integrated Stand 19°
VESA Compatibility	No
Ports	3‑in‑1 interface USB‑C ×1, Full‑function USB‑C ×1
Power Input	AC 110–240 V
Power Output	5 V ⎓ 3 A
Compatibility	Windows 10+, macOS 10.12+, Android 6.0+, Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS)

Things included

Pen display
Colour calibration report
M5 Pen
Pen holder with 8 replacement pen nibs, pen nib remover
USB-A 15W charger
Micro fiber cleaning cloth
3-to-1 cable with HDMI
Quick start guide

Design

Design of the pen display is clean and simple. There are no shortcut buttons by the sides.

The tablet is quite thin, and weighs 900g. This is a compact device that can be stored away easily, quickly, like a laptop.

The back is made with plastic, matte textured, and overall build quality is good and does not feel filmsy.

The back has two fold-out feet that can be deployed at 19 degrees. I would recommend a tablet stand with adjustable angles instead, such as the Parblo PR100 that I've been using for years, because the display has IPS or LCD glow that's visible unless you're looking directly from the front.

Two USB-C ports are located at the top left of the pen display. One's for the 3-to-1 cable and the other is for USB-C video. You can use either one, but there's no USB-C video cable included in the box.

The USB-C connector for the 3-to-1 cable has an extra extrusion to go into the hole beside the port and this makes the cable connection more secure, less likely to move when moving the pen display.

In case you don't know, a pen display is actually a monitor so it needs to be connected to a computer. The selling point here compared to portable tablets is you can use desktop software, apps from your computer.

If you use HDMI, you use the 3-to-1 cable and connect one USB-A to power, another USB-A to your computer so that the pen can be detected.

If you use USB-C video, you can use one cable that provides video, data and power. The pen display can be powered by the USB port of a laptop, but it's gonna draw the laptop battery much faster.

Power button's located at the top right and you can press and hold that to call up the OSD menu.

The OSD allows you to adjust display settings such as brightness, contrast, saturation, RGB, colour temperature and gamma.

Display

This pen display uses a 13.3-inch LCD with 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and 60Hz refresh rate. This is not a touchscreen

The display surface area is slightly smaller than A4 sized paper, and quite comparable to the 13-inch iPad Pro but of course the aspect ratio is different.

The display is already colour calibrated at the factory and average Delta E for sRGB is 0.62. Average Delta E is the variance between the input digital colour and the measured output colour. Anything less than 2 is good, less than 1 is fantastic.

I measured colour support for 100% sRGB, 89% AdobeRGB, 86% NTSC, 97% P3 and a maximum brightness of 183 nits out of the advertised 220 nits.

I wish the brightness could be higher but 183 nits is still sufficient for indoor use.

The visuals look sharp enough and pixelation is not noticeable.

There is IPS or LCD glow when the display is viewed from certain angles, so that's where having a tablet stand with adjustable angles will be very useful.

The display is laminated so there's almost no parallax gap between the pen tip and line beneath.

Anti-glare works well. All matte surface will introduce some colour noise, anti-glare sparkle or gain to affect image quality, and all that is kept to a minimum here.

Driver

There are drivers for Windows and MacOS. Linux drivers are in development.

The driver is quite basic and provides adjustment for mapping, pen & cursor alignment, pressure sensitivity, pen button shortcuts and a virtual keyboard.

The virtual keyboard only has four shortcuts so it's not that useful. And if you have to use a pen button to call up the virtual keyboard, that's one pen button that cannot be assigned to something else.

Pen

The M5 Pen is well made. There's a big silicone grip that's comfortable to hold.

The pen has two customisable side buttons. Interestingly the two buttons are beneath the silicone grip so it's not possible for the buttons to break off. There's no eraser at the back.

The pen supports tilt and 16K levels of pressure sensitivity. The pen is not powered by battery so no charging is required.

Line tests

Line tests below were created with Medibang Paint Pro.

1. Thin lines can be drawn easily even with a thick brush selected. There's no diagonal line wobble.

2. Lines can taper smoothly and sharply.

3. Line transition from thin to thick and back is smooth. There's difficulty drawing a really thin line after a thick line.

4. You can create consistent line width by maintaining consistent pressure.

5. Dots can be drawn easily, and react to pressure.

6. No issues with cursor misalignment. Cursor is always directly under the pen tip even when pen is tilted very low, or pen tip is at the extreme left or right edges.

Tilt sensitivity works well.

This pen is accurate and sensitive. Performance is consistent and predictable.

Drawing experience

Since the pen performance is fantastic, the drawing experience is wonderful.

The matte glass surface feels nice to draw on. The matte glass surface is quite smooth, smoother than matte screen protectors, but I'm still able to get good control over the pen. The pen display only gets warm in a small localised area near the top middle section.

Main thing that affect drawing experience is probably the display size. While the display surface area is slightly smaller than A4-sized paper, when there are palettes on the left and right, the drawing area is halved.

13-inch is the smallest size for pen display that I will recommend so this size is still very usable. I wish the company would come out with 16-inch pen displays in the future to give people more options.

The 2560 x 1600 resolution makes visuals look sharp enough so 4K resolution is not needed. I appreciate the 16:10 aspect ratio very much because given the fixed width of the display, you get more vertical space, more pixels, hence more desktop space. 16:10 aspect ratio is more useful when the display is small.

Pressure sensitivity works great. Thin and thick lines can be drawn easily even with a thick brush selected. The pen can create very expressive lines.

The pen is definitely good enough for creating professional art.

Conclusion

The Turing 14 pen display looks good and works well. The pen is accurate and sensitive. Performance is consistent and predictable. Main downside or limitation is just the measured 183 nits maximum brightness but it's still sufficient for use indoors. Pricing seems competitive to other brands.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Design looks good
+ Build quality is good
+ Display looks vibrant and sharp
+ Good colour accuracy
+ Supports HTMI and USB-C video
+ Can be powered by one single USB-C video cable
+ Body has fold-out feet
+ Matte glass surface
+ Accurate and sensitive pen
+ Wonderful drawing experience
- IPS/LCD glow noticeable
- 183 nits brightness
- No shortcut buttons on display
- USB-C video cable not included
- Virtual keyboard not that useful with only 4 shortcuts

Availability

The DIGIDRAW Turing 14 can be purchased from Amazon US.

Teoh Yi Chie Thu, 28 May 2026 - 20:00

Tags

pen display

tech reviews

digidraw

Review: Pentel Multi 8 Lead Holder / Clutch Pencil

Teoh Yi Chie — Tue, 26 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Review: Pentel Multi 8 Lead Holder / Clutch Pencil

The Pentel Multi 8 is a mechanical clutch pencil that can hold 8 coloured leads. So essentially you're getting 8 coloured pencil in a clutch pencil that's not much thicker than some disposable pens.

The smart design allows you to switch different colours easily. Turn the pen clip to show the colour you want, press the back button and the lead slides out.

There's actually a tray that will move when you turn the pen clip, and the lead will slide onto the tray and out.

To change colour, press the back button, hold the pen so that the lead slides back, turn the pen clip to your preferred colour, push the back button and the other pencil lead slides down. You will need two hands to switch pencil leads.

Price of the pencil is around USD 19, and it's possible to buy it together with replacement colour leads for a total of USD 29.

The pencil lead is 5.8cm long and 2mm thick.

The pencil lead is held by metal clutches.

The colours do look vibrant and easy to apply. There's no information regarding pigment for the pencil leads so I'm not sure how lightfast the colours will be.

This is a wonderful and smart product. You have to hand it to the Japanese to design stationery like this. This is the equivalent of having 8 colour pencils but in one body.

Where to buy

You can find the Pentel Multi 8 on Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | JP)

Teoh Yi Chie Tue, 26 May 2026 - 20:00

Tags

pentel

art product reviews

coloured pencils reviews

Review: Huion Note E (X50) note taking Android tablet

Teoh Yi Chie — Sun, 24 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Review: Huion Note E (X50) note taking Android tablet

Review unit provided by Huion

The Huion Note E (X50) is an Android tablet with an 8.4-inch matte glass LCD display that's designed for note taking, and it uses Huion own pen with PenTech 3. This tablet was launched on 20 May 2026 and is priced at USD 369.

This new tablet has better pen performance compared to the Huion Slate 10, Slate 11 and 13. This is great news because it means there may be a possibility for Huion to release Android tablets in the future with better pen performance for drawing.

The Huion Note E can certainly be used for drawing but it's limited by the display size. Huion definitely needs this tablet to be bigger to compete with the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad (2025) and the Wacom MovinkPad 11.

Specifications

Model	X50
Price	USD 369, £329, CAD 499, AUD 549, ￥54,980, 369 €
Dimensions	203 x 143 x 7.4 mm
Weight	348g
Display	8.4-inch LCD, 60Hz
Display surface	Matte glass, laminated
Resolution	1920 x 1200, 16:10, 270 PPO
Response time (typical)	30 ms
Viewing angle	170 degrees
Contrast ratio	1000:1
Brightness (typical)	300 nits
Colour gamut	99% sRGB
Colour depth	16.7m (8 bit)
Pen	PW510 with eraser
Pen technology	PenTech 3 with tilt, 8K pressure, palm rejection
Pen tip	Felt
Pen weight	12.5g
Pen accuracy	±0.3mm (Center), ±2mm (Corner)
Pen resolution	5080 LPI
Report rate	220 PPS
Port	USB-C
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.2, Wifi
Charging time	2hr
Battery life	6.5hr
OS	Android 15 with Huion custom UI
Biometric security	Fingerprint scanner
Mic	2
Speaker	1
Rear camera	8MP
Processor	MTK Helio G99
RAM and storage	6GB, 128GB
MicroSD card slot	No
Bundled apps	HiPaint, Huion Store

Things included

Tablet
Flip case
Huion PW510 pen
Pen nib remover
Extra pen nibs
USB-C to USB-C charging cable
User manual
Card on how to install Google Play Store

This card has instructions on how you can enable Google Play Store which is pre-installed but not enabled by default. The process is quite straightforward.

The flip case is made with PU leather on the exterior and felt-like material inside.

There are two holes on the side of the tablet to slot into the two hooks of the flip case. The flip case is not magnetic so removing the tablet from it is not as convenient. I can still grip the tablet well enough with one hand, but can't do so as easily with the flip case.

There's actually a pen holder flap but it can't be completely flat with the pen in it, or perhaps it will need some time to become flat. Anyway, the magnet of the pen is quite strong so you may not want to use that pen holder flap.

Design

This is a compact little tablet that's easy to bring around, and can be held in one hand. Weight is just 348g not including the flip case.

Bezel is noticeably thicker on the left and provides more space for you hand to hold. There's no front camera. The tablet has an auto-brightness sensor but I can't see where it is.

The iPad mini is still slightly smaller, and thinner too at 6.3mm vs 7.3mm.

Note the reflections on the anti-reflective display of the iPad mini vs the anti-glare of the matte glass on the Huion Note E. As someone who hates reflections, I appreciate the matte glass surface a lot.

USB-C charging port on the bottom is located at the corner, near the thicker bezel on the left. Transfer speed is USB 2.

The power button with built-in fingerprint scanner is located at the top right. In the photo above, you can see a bit of camera bump.

The left side has two holes for the hooks of the flip case. This side is curved while the three other sides are flat with parallel line designs.

There's one speaker located near the lower hole and audio quality sounds flat, which is not surprising.

This tablet has no volume buttons, no microSD card slot.

Camera on the back is just 8MP and there's no flash.

Display

The 8.4-inch LCD has 1920 x 1200 resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. Visuals look sharp enough from normal working distance away.

Colour support is 99% sRGB and colour depth is 16.7 million. Contrast ratio is 1000:1. Visual quality of the display looks alright. There is IPS or LCD glow when display is viewing from an angle but it's not a big issue.

Reading experience for text is good thanks to the matte glass surface.

Display is not ideal for reading comics or PDFs as text can be too small.

For web browsing, most webpages will be presented in tablet/phone mode.

Display is laminated so when writing or drawing, there's no gap between the line and the pen tip. The matte glass surface is smooth and is good for writing. There's less texture compared to matte screen protectors.

Note taking experience is good. 8.4-inch is still big enough for taking notes, but if you like to see more lines or words are a glance, perhaps you should look for an 11-inch tablet.

Response time is listed as 30ms which is in the pen display territory. There is slight latency when writing but it's not a big issue and does not affect pen performance. The tablet, app and pen are able to capture my handwriting style quite well.

OS and software

The tablet runs on Android 15 and Huion has their own UI on top.

Here are the tabs on the left bar:

Home: Home screen
Notes: Goes to Notes home screen
To Dos: Goes to To-Dos home screen
Favourites: Your favourite apps can be added here
Apps: All apps can be found here
Files: File manager
Feedback: You can send suggestions and images to Huion
Settings: Let's your change the handwriting recognition language

For the actual Android settings, you have to swipe from top right to reveal the Settings button.

One downside to Huion's UI is there's no way to change it to the typical Android home screen with the apps and dock. You may be able to change the home screen with a launcher but I did not test that.

There's no app management. You either find your apps from the Favourites tab, or from the Apps tab. Apps cannot be grouped together.

Google Play Store is not enabled by default so you'll have to read the instruction card on how to enable that. Setting up Google Play Store should take no more than 2 minutes.

The default note taking app is Huion Note which has very limited features, but works fine for writing. Notes can be saved to Google Drive, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive.

My favourite Android note taking app Notein is not available from Google Play Store. I tried installing the APK version of the app but cannot sign in to restore my past purchase. Flexcil is also not available.

So for note taking, I'm using MyScript Notes which works well, even the pen eraser works. There's also Microsoft OneNote, Goodnotes, Concepts.

Swiping up from apps may sometimes require two swipes, first to show the button handle bar, and swipe to home or app switcher.

Performance

The tablet uses the MediaTek Helio G99 processor which isn't that powerful but for a tablet designed for simple tasks and note taking, overall performance is smooth.

6GB of RAM is not much but sufficient.

Tablet only has 99GB of usable storage out of the advertised 128GB, and there's no microSD card slot. 99GB should be plenty even after installing apps as creating notes do not take up much storage. You can even use note taking apps that save to the cloud and those notes won't even use local storage.

Line tests

Line tests were created with Medibang Paint Pro.

1. There's no issue with slow diagonal lines. Thin lines can be drawn easily with minimal pressure.

2. Lines can taper smoothly and sharply.

3. Line transition from thin to thick is smooth. It's not as easy to draw thin lines after thick lines so this may suggest the pen has difficult detecting minor changes with pressure after drawing thick lines.

4. Consistent line width can be maintained with consistent pressure.

5. No issues with dots.

6. No issues with cursor misalignment.

There is tilt support but the front of the pen is bulbous and the pen tip will looks contact with the display when pen is tilted too low.

Drawing experience

Drawing experience is good because pen performance is consistent and predictable. Pressure and palm rejection works well.

There is slight latency but it's not really an issue for drawing. The drawing app use will also affect how much latency there is.

This tablet could work well as a mini digital sketchpad. The other mini tablets that I've reviewed that also have pen support are all more expensive, such as the Xiaomi Pad Mini, Huawei MatePad Mini and iPad mini 7 (2024). Samsung does not have a mini tablet so they are missing out.

Drawing on this tablet is enjoyable.

Battery life

Battery capacity is 4500 mAh.

Huion advertised 6.5 hours of battery life. I managed to get around 7- 8 hours with auto brightness so that's not bad.

Conclusion

The tablet may not have the best specifications given the price point obviously, but it's a well made tablet. Overall performance is smooth, lag-free.

The pen works well for note taking and for drawing, limited only by display size. Pressure and palm rejection work well. Tilt doesn't work as well due to the pen design.

The 8.4-inch display is still big enough for note taking although if you're someone who prefers to see a lot at a glance, then the small display may feel limited. Reading experience is good too thanks to the matte glass surface, but the small display is not ideal for reading comics.

Main downside or limitation would probably the fixed UI for the home screen which isn't customisable.

For a first generation portable device with Huion pen tech, it's actually quite good. There are certainly many areas to improve but at least it the pen performs well. It will be very exciting if Huion can make bigger tablets that are more geared towards drawing in the future with similar pen tech.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Compact portable
+ Matte glass surface nice to write on
+ Good anti-glare performance
+ Good pen performance with pressure, tilt, palm rejection
+ Good note taking performance
+ Good drawing performance
+ Pen attaches to tablet with strong magnet
+ Pen does not require battery
+ There's Google Play Store, but needs to be enabled
+ Smooth overall performance
+ Auto brightness works well enough
+ There's fingerprint unlock
+ 7 hour battery life
- Home screen UI not customisable
- No microSD card slot
- Flip case is not magnetic
- Hardware specs not that good but does not affect performance
- Unsure whether Android OS can be updated in the future
- Slightly latency with writing but does not affect accuracy
- Bulbous front of the pen prevents tilt from working well
- Audio sounds hollow
- Huion Note app has limited features

Availability

The Huion Note E is available from Huion online store and Amazon US.

Teoh Yi Chie Sun, 24 May 2026 - 22:00

Tags

huion

android

tablet

tech reviews

Review: Huion Ink EB1011 e-ink Android tablet with pen support

Teoh Yi Chie — Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Review: Huion Ink EB1011 e-ink Android tablet with pen support

Review unit provided by Huion

Even Huion is selling e-ink tablets now. The Huion Ink EB101 is a 10.3-inch e-ink Android tablet that comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage with a microSD card slot. This was released either in late 2025 or early 2026.

Price at the time of review is USD 329 and includes free shipping to some countries, and there's a 1-year warranty.

Specifications

Specification	Value
Color	Grey
Pen Technology	Battery-Free EMR
Press Keys	1 Power Button
Dimension	243 x 176 x 6.5 mm
Working Area (PC Mode)	157.25 x 209.66 mm
Net Weight	450 g
Pressure Levels	8192 Levels
Pen Resolution	5080 LPI
Accuracy	±0.3mm center; ±0.5mm corner
Reading Height	10 mm
Tilt Recognition	±45°
Automatic Sleep	Adjustable
Wireless Connection	802.11 ac/b/g/n/a; Bluetooth 5.0
Battery Capacity	4650 mAh
Charging Time	3 hours
Battery Life	12 days
Interface	USB-C
OS Support	Built-in Android OS
Digital Pen	Huion Ink Pencil IP151

Things included

Tablet
Flip cover
Huion Ink Pencil IP151
3x replacement pen nibs
Pen nib clip
SIM ejector
User guide
USB-A to USB-C charging cable

Design

Design of the Huion Ink looks good although I wish the bottom bezel could be on the left side instead for a bigger grip. The tablet weighs 450g which is alright for a 10.3-inch tablet.

The tablet is well made and build quality is decent.

Thickness is 6.5mm. On this side there's the microSD card slot.

This is the top with the power button. This tablet does not have biometric unlock, so no fingerprint scanner and no face unlock since there are no cameras.

This tablet does not have buttons for page flips and volume. There is a speaker and audio sounds flat and hollow, which is not surprising.

That's the USB-C charging port with USB-2 transfer speed. A full charge for the 4650 mAh battery will take 3 hours. Battery life is 8-10 hours depending whether the front light is used.

The back has a clean design with just the Huion logo. There's no camera, so no camera bump, and this tablet can be laid completely flat on the table.

The included flip cover case is made with PU leather.

The tablet provides full protection on all sides. The case does make the tablet heavier and thicker.

It's not a magnetic case so removing the tablet is not convenient.

This angle is stable enough for writing.

This angle is better for reading, but not stable for writing.

Display

The 10.3-inch BW display has a resolution of 1404 x 1872 (227 PPI). The e-ink canvas is quite similar to newpaper gray and contrast is good even without front light.

This is probably the minimum size I would go with for reading comics although the text is still on the small side. For A4 PDFs, text would be small too. If you read comics and PDFs often, I recommend a tablet that's 12-inches or larger.

By the way, the colour-to-BW conversion is quite good.

Text quality looks good. Default mode has fuller text and sharper edges. I prefer the faster refresh mode that makes the tablet feel slightly more responsive overall, but text has rougher edges, but still look good to me.

Ghosting or image retention for reading text is not an issue. Pages can flip fast enough. Oh, there are no physical page flip buttons on the tablet.

Web browsing has more ghosting or image retention, but that will also depend on which refresh mode was used. One downside with web browsing is the download speed of this tablet is not fast.

This is how cool light looks.

This is how warm light looks.

The lighting looks even and there is no waving pattern at the edges, no light bleeding from between the frame and bezels.

Performance

I installed CPU-Z and found the processor used is the Rockchip RK3066, a dual-core chip released in 2012. Needless to say, this is an old and budget friendly processor that really feels out of date in 2026.

Most e-ink tablets are using either 4-core or 8-core processors nowadays.

The processor in this tablet isn't power and that explains why performance can feel sluggish, download speed is slow, and apps take some time to launch.

If Huion has plans for a new model, they need to use a better processor.

Having only 4GB RAM isn't a big issue since you probably won't be running that many apps in the backup.

OS and software

The tablet runs on Android 11 which is quite old since most tablets nowadays run Android 16. Anyway, it's not a big issue for e-ink tablets to run older versions of Android since these tablets won't be running highly sophisticated apps. This tablet is made for reading and will be used mostly with e-book apps and those run fine on Android 11.

Huion has their own UI on top of Android and the features are very limited. I wish there was the Android navigation bar because swiping up with this tablet sometimes does not register. One feature I like is Wifi and Bluetooth are disconnected when the tablet goes to sleep.

Home screen customisation is limited. You can only choose the grid to show more apps, but you can't move apps around or move apps into groups/folders.

Google Play Store is pre-installed but not enabled. Setting up Google Play Store involves copying a code that the tablet provides for you to paste onto Google's website to register this device.

Writing experience

The included pen is the Huion Ink Pencil IP151. I'm not sure what technology this pen is using but it's not USI, thankfully. The pen supports pressure and palm rejection.

The pen has no side button but there's an eraser at the back. The pen is not power by battery, so no charging or pairing is required.

Writing experience is good. The pen and tablet are able to capture my handwriting style well. There is slight latency even with with the default note taking app which is Huion Note.

Huion Note is a very simple note taking app without much features. There's no cloud backup option and backup involves saving a copy onto local storage which you have to transfer out (maybe to cloud manually) for an actual backup.

There's Global Handwriting feature with Microsoft OneNote. This feature lets you write with minimal latency, but there's still latency, but the compromise is you can't see the actual style of the line after a second of inactivity. For example, if you write with a thick line, you will see a thin line appear fast first, then after a second of inactivity the thick line will appear.

Global Handwriting is a feature to let you use third party note taking apps with better latency, but this feature does not work with all note taking apps.

I've tried using Concepts app for note taking and the latency performance is very bad.

Conclusion

The tablet is well made. Reading experience is good. Writing experience is alright despite having slight latency but it's not a big deal.

Overall performance of the tablet is on the slower side when compared to other e-ink tablets that I've tested. The processor isn't that powerful and I feel there's more sluggishness compared to e-ink tablets from other companies, but for reading purposes it's not a big issue.

The default note taking app has very limited features, and third party note taking apps have very noticeable latency.

Battery life of 8-10 hours is decent for an Android that's more than an e-reader.

I see this as a tablet that's gonna be used solely for reading, maybe some writing.

The e-ink tablet market is incredibly competitive and it's definitely very brave of Huion to enter this market. There are certainly many areas to improve with their first tablet, and I hope they will have more portable tablets in the future.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Design looks good
+ Decent build quality
+ Has microSD card slot
+ Good e-ink quality provides good reading experience
+ 10.3-inch big enough for comics
+ Flip case is included
+ Even front cool and warm front lighting
+ 8-10 hours battery life
+ Pen is included
+ Writing experience is alright
+ There's Google Play Store
- There are no buttons for page flips and volume
- Speaker sounds hollow
- Case is not magnetic so tablet cannot be remove easily
- No biometric unlock
- 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
- Sluggish performance
- Slow download speed
- Huion UI has very limited features
- Huion Note app has very limited features
- Third party note taking or drawing apps do not work well

Availability

The Huion Ink EB1011 is available through Huion online store and AliExpress.

Teoh Yi Chie Wed, 20 May 2026 - 22:00

Tags

huion

e reader

android

tablet

tech reviews

Book Review: Mateusz Urbanowicz Uncollected Works 2010-2021

Teoh Yi Chie — Sat, 16 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Book Review: Mateusz Urbanowicz Uncollected Works 2010-2021

Sketchbook gem

Mateusz Urbanowicz is an artist from Poland who's currently based in Japan. He's known for his beautiful watercolour sketches and detailed background art created for animation studios. And he has published several artbooks over the years.

Mateusz Urbanowicz Uncollected Works 2010-2021 is a 176-page paperback artbook that's about A5-size. The binding is exposed and the pages can be opened completely flat. The publisher is MdN Corporation

This sketchbook collects the beautiful sketchbooks that were not featured in his other books. Most of the scenes are from Japan, of the cityscape, suburbs. Most are watercolour sketches, but some were created with coloured pencils and graphite pencils.

Even though most are sketches, they are all quite detailed, and must have taken a long time to draw and paint. The style is loose, colour scheme is mostly pastel with soft colours. The look and feel is idyllic and charming. The book feels very much like a travelogue.

This is a wonderful book that I can recommend easily. A Kindle version of this book is available but only for those with an Amazon Japan account.

You can see more art from Mateusz Urbanowicz at
https://mateuszurbanowicz.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8BjDleMFNvnikjAI6GdBPg
https://www.instagram.com/mateusz_urbanowicz

This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

Teoh Yi Chie Sat, 16 May 2026 - 10:00

Tags

mateusz urbanowicz

art book reviews

mdn corporation

Face ASEAN in Watercolour, free art e-book by Sutien

Teoh Yi Chie — Wed, 13 May 2026 03:49:58 +0000

Face ASEAN in Watercolour, free art e-book by Sutien

My urban sketcher friend Sutien from Thailand has just put out an ebook with some of his watercolour sketches around Asean.

See it here.

Teoh Yi Chie Wed, 13 May 2026 - 11:49

Tags

urban sketchers

art book reviews

Review: Ohuhu Cotton-top Watercolour Pad

Teoh Yi Chie — Tue, 12 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Review: Ohuhu Cotton-top Watercolour Pad

Review sample provided by Ohuhu

Ohuhu has just introduced an interesting watercolour paper with cotton top and non-cotton bottom.

Watercolour pad sizes are A4 and 9 x 12 inch. Each pad has either 20 or 30 sheets, priced at USD 20 and 26 respectively.

Surfaces available are hotpress and coldpress, but I only have hotpress to test. Paper weight is 300 gsm.

The pad is not gummed on the sides.

I'm not sure how the cotton and non-cotton paper are joined but it looks just like a single sheet of paper. Colour of the paper is slightly off white.

The paper handles ink well without feathering.

The wet on wet test unfortunately isn't good. The horizontal painted lines are still obvious and did not blend much into the wet surface. This performance is quite similar to cellulose watercolour paper.

For this test, I have two colours painted with much on each end of the rectangle, and tilted the paper to let the colours blend. The colours are able to blend but the 100% cotton paper seem to perform better as there is more blending and moving into each colour. Paint on Ohuhu's paper seem to want to stay within its area.

The 300gsm paper buckles slightly with heavy washes but it's not a big issue.

Good quality watercolour paper is a mix of cotton content and how it's sized to handle water. In fact, sizing may be more important than the cotton content because I have used 60% cotton watercolour paper that worked great for wet on wet techniques.

Colours do look vibrant enough on the paper.

There's no doubt the paper can be used with watercolour. It just seems like the paint would mostly want to sink in and not move.

I painted the sky with horizontal strokes and I needed additional strokes to move the paint to help it blend rather than let water do its work.

The paper should work well with flat-style colouring without much blending. However the fun of watercolour is with the blending though.

I don't think this paper is that great for watercolour. The performance with wet on wet techniques looks very similar to wood pulp or cellulose paper. This paper could be used for mixed media work though.

Teoh Yi Chie Tue, 12 May 2026 - 21:00

Tags

ohuhu

watercolour paper review

art product reviews

Artist Review: Samsung S26 Ultra

Teoh Yi Chie — Sun, 10 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Artist Review: Samsung S26 Ultra

Review unit on loan from Samsung Singapore

The new Samsung Galaxy S26 series phones were released on 11 March 2026. This generation is just a slight update so if you don't have any issues with your current phone, I don't think there's any compelling reason to upgrade, unless you specifically need the new features.

Bottom line: This is one of the best phones in the market. You can expect fantastic user experience. There are several upgrades but the upgrades are slight. The yearly updates are not for people who upgrade their phones yearly.

If you do not need the pen, just go with the Plus instead of the Ultra model.

This phone, and other models, are available currently in Singapore from Shopee SG and Lazada SG from SGD 1648, and could be cheaper if there are promotions going on.

This review is from the perspective of an artist and graphic designer. I've actually used the Samsung S25 Ultra for several months as my main phone previously, and I've used the phone as my ultra portable sketchpad. But eventually I just find the display too small for comfortable drawing. And my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be so I've to ditch the idea of drawing phones.

And unfortunately Samsung removed the S Pen with the Samsung Z Fold 7 so the next largest device from Samsung for drawing is actually their 11-inch Tab S10 FE or Tab S11 tablets.

For some reason, Samsung just does not want to create an 8-inch mini tablet like the iPad mini, Xiaomi Pad Mini or Huawei MatePad Mini. There's definitely a market for a premium mini tablet with good pen support. Must we wait for Apple to upgrade the iPad Mini with an OLED display?

Specifications

Feature	Galaxy S26	Galaxy S26+	Galaxy S26 Ultra
Display Size	6.3" Dynamic AMOLED 2X	6.7" Dynamic AMOLED 2X	6.9" Dynamic AMOLED 2X
Display Brightness	2,600 nits (Peak)	2,600 nits (Peak)	2,600 nits (Peak / Flex Magic Mode)
Resolution	FHD+ (2340 x 1080)	QHD+ (3120 x 1440)	QHD+ (3120 x 1440)
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
RAM	12GB	12GB	12GB / 16GB
Main Camera	50MP (f/1.8)	50MP (f/1.8)	200MP (f/1.4)
Battery	4,300 mAh	4,900 mAh	5,000 mAh
Wired Charging	25W	45W	60W
Dimensions (mm)	149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm	158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm	163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9 mm
Weight	167 g	190 g	214 g
Exclusive Tech	N/A	N/A	Flex Magic Privacy Display

And here's a table comparing with the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Feature	Samsung S25 Ultra	Samsung S26 Ultra	iPhone 17 Pro Max
Exact release date	7 February 2025	11 March 2026	19 September 2025
Announcement date	22 January 2025	25 February 2026	9 September 2025
Dimensions & weight	162.8 × 77.6 × 8.2 mm; 218 g	163.6 × 78.1 × 7.9 mm; 214 g	163.4 × 78 × 8.8 mm; 233 g
Display	6.9" Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X; 1440×3120; 120Hz; 2600 nits peak	6.9" Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X; 1440×3120; 120Hz; 2600 nits; Privacy Display	6.9" LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED; 2868×1320; 120Hz; 3000 nits peak
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm)	Apple A19 Pro (3 nm)
RAM	12GB / 16GB	12GB / 16GB	12GB
Storage	256GB / 512GB / 1TB (UFS 4.0)	256GB / 512GB / 1TB (UFS 4.X)	256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB (NVMe)
Rear cameras (apertures)	200 MP main f/1.7; 10 MP tele 3× f/2.4; 50 MP periscope 5× f/3.4; 50 MP ultrawide f/1.9	200 MP main f/1.4; 10 MP tele 3× f/2.4; 50 MP periscope 5× f/2.9; 50 MP ultrawide f/1.9	48 MP main (Fusion) f/1.78; 48 MP telephoto 4× f/2.8; 48 MP ultrawide f/2.2; LiDAR depth sensor
Front camera (aperture)	12 MP f/2.2; 4K@60fps	12 MP f/2.2; 4K@60fps	18 MP f/1.9; 4K@60fps; SL 3D depth sensing
Video	8K@24/30fps; 4K@120fps; HDR10+	8K@24/30fps; 4K@120fps; HDR10+	4K Dolby Vision up to 120fps; ProRes; ProRes RAW; Spatial Video
Battery & charging	5000 mAh; 45W wired; 15W wireless	5000 mAh; 60W wired; 25W wireless	~4823–5088 mAh (model dependent); 40W wired; 25W wireless
OS & updates	Android 15 → One UI 8; up to 7 major updates	Android 16 → One UI 8.5; up to 7 major updates	iOS 26 (upgradable)
Build & protection	Gorilla Armor 2 front; titanium frame; IP68	Gorilla Armor 2 front; aluminum frame; IP68; Privacy Display	Ceramic Shield 2 front & back; aluminum alloy frame; IP68
Connectivity	Wi‑Fi 7; Bluetooth 5.4; UWB; USB‑C 3.2	Wi‑Fi 7; Bluetooth 6.0; UWB; USB‑C 3.2	Wi‑Fi 7; Bluetooth 6.0; UWB Gen2; USB‑C 3.2 Gen2
Special features	S Pen support; Samsung DeX; high‑bitrate audio	S Pen; DeX; Privacy Display; improved optics	Apple Intelligence; Spatial Video; Face ID; ProRes RAW

There are actually many uprgades but not in the substantial way that many are wishing for. Smartphone technology is getting so good nowadays that it's kinda difficult to get those substantial upgrades we used to have a decade ago.

Let's go through some of the upgrades.

Size, weight, handling

This phone is now thinner at 7.9mm and it's quite impressive. Weight is just 214g.

The 6.9-inch AMOLED display is huge and makes this phone feel like a mini tablet rather than a phone. If you have no need for the S Pen, I would actually recommend you go with the smaller 6.3-inch S26 or 6.7-inch S26+ instead which are more phone-like in size and weight.

Note that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is available for S26 Ultra in all countries, but the S26 and S26+ may ship with Exynos 2600 depending on market. There will be differences in processing power of course, but I doubt you'll notice the difference unless you do a benchmark test.

I've been using the biggest possible phones for the longest time and I've decided to switch to smaller 6.2-inch (thereabout) phones because battery life for such phones nowadays is also pretty good.

Battery life

The S26 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery capacity. You can expect 12 hours of battery life and that's really good.

Cable charging speed has increased to 60W/b> from 45W so now you can get 75% battery life back in just 30 minutes. But the 60W charging speed is only for the S26 Ultra. S26+ only support 45W charging which will charge 50% in 30 minutes which is still really good, and S26 only supports 25W charging.

With fast charging, there really isn't any need to get the S26 Ultra just for the larger battery. And it's just 5000 mAh vs S26's 4900 mAh anyway.

S26 Ultra also supports 25W Qi2 charging. I was only able to get 18W charging with the Qi2.2 charger that I tested. The huge camera bump behind may affect the alignment of the wireless charger, and hence affect the charging speed. And it's best to get a phone case that supports MagSafe so that it's easier to align the battery for wireless charging.

Display

Samsung AMOLED displays have been amazing for years. Displays are sharp, bright enough under the sun, and so smooth with 120Hz refresh rate.

This new model adds a new feature called Privacy Display where upon activating through settings, the display will have limited viewing angles. Privacy Display works really well.

Cameras

Cameras are great and can take great photos. You can read the specs for yourself.

The camera bump is even larger now though, with an island added. You will definitely need a phone case to reduce the camera bump but even so there may still be a camera bump because it is that large.

I happen to use my phones to make Youtube videos and while the video quality from Samsung is good, it's missing the PAL 25FPS recording setting. Not many Android phones have this PAL 25FPS recording and it's such a shame because it can be added through software.

PAL 25FPS basically lets you record at a frame rate that's in sync with the electricity in some countries to that light sources will not flicker in your video. If you say the lights in your videos do not flicker, well that's just luck and not control.

It is possible to install third party apps that enable 25FPS but the UI from those apps may not be ideal, or worst you may not be able to use image stabilisation when recording video.

The lack of PAL 25FPS is the main and only reason why I don't use Samsung phones.

You can still record great videos with NTSC 30 FPS, 60 FPS by the way.

OS and software

The phone has Samsung One UI 8.5 on top of Android 16, and will get 7 years of OS and security updates.

Samsung One UI has many useful features, and since it's Android it's also very customisable, especially with the Good Lock app from Google Play Store.

There's also the SamsungDex feature that lets you connect the phone to an external display to use it as a desktop computer. This is a great setup for those with simple computing needs and don't need full desktop OS and hence won't need to spend money to buy a computer.

Drawing experience

This phone has a huge display for a phone, but for drawing it's considered a small display.

This sketch above was drawn with the S25 Ultra. Drawing detailed or huge scenes is difficult on a small screen as it involves lots of zooming in and out to check the composition and perspective. And it's also difficult to draw tiny details.

The phone is best used for drawing singular subjects in my opinion. And in this case it can be an extremely portable sketchpad, a rather small one though. I sketch with my watercolour sketchbook too, but it's just more convenient to have the phone as it's with me all the time.

Conclusion

If you want a flagship Android phone, it is very difficult to go wrong with the Samsung S26 series phones. As to whether they are worth the money, you can decide.

Maybe you can even get the prefers S25 series which are still amazing phones, but now selling at even more attractive prices.

The only thing that prevents me from getting this phone is that lack of 25FPS video recording with the native camera app. I really wish Samsung will add that in the future, and it's just a software feature.

Availability

The Samsung S26 series phones are available currently in Singapore from Shopee SG and Lazada SG from SGD 1648, and could be cheaper if there are promotions going on.

Teoh Yi Chie Sun, 10 May 2026 - 22:00

Tags

samsung

tech reviews

android phones

android

Artist Review: Huawei MatePad Mini with M-Pencil Pro

Teoh Yi Chie — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Artist Review: Huawei MatePad Mini with M-Pencil Pro

Review sample provided by Huawei Singapore

Huawei announced the Huawei MatePad Mini with the China ROM on 4 September 2025. Fast forward many months later, this tablet with the global ROM is finally made available on 24 April 2026 in Singapore.

The official retail price of the Huawei MatePad Mini (12GB + 256GB) in Singapore is SGD 748 and that includes the Huawei M-Pencil Pro and the official flip case. The tablet can be purchased from Shopee SG and Lazada SG.

On the product page, there's a mention of a free battery replacement within a three year period. Awesome. And you get two PaperMatte Display Care service whatever that means.

Bottom line: This is one of the best mini tablets in 2026 if you can look past the limitations with HarmonyOS.

I was actually looking forward to using this tablet as a phone but unfortunately there's no cellular support.

Specifications

Category	Specification
Display	8.8-inch OLED (PaperMatte optional), 2560 × 1600, 120Hz, ~343 PPI
Brightness	Up to 1800 nits
Operating System	HarmonyOS 4.3
Processor	Kirin 9010 or Kirin 9010B (PaperMatte)
RAM	12GB
Storage	256GB
Rear Camera	50MP (main) + 8MP (ultra-wide)
Front Camera	32MP
Video Recording	Up to 4K (rear)
Battery	6400 mAh
Charging	66W fast charging
Speakers	Dual speakers, Huawei Histen 9.5
Microphones	2
Wi-Fi	2.4GHz & 5GHz
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.2 (LDAC, AAC)
USB	USB-C (USB 2.0)
Navigation	GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS
Dimensions	198.6 × 127.3 × 5.1 mm
Weight	260 g
Sensors	Fingerprint, gyroscope, compass, ambient light, proximity, hall sensor
Stylus Support	Huawei M-Pencil Pro, Huawei M-Pencil 3

Things included

Here in Singapore, the tablet is bundled with the Huawei M-Pencil Pro and the official flip case.

The flip case comes in two parts. There's the back cover which can magnetically attach to the flip cover. This is a convenient design that lets you use the tablet without the flip cover.

There's a magnetic flap that prevents the pen from dislodging accidentally. Cover material feels like PU leather to me. The case is well made.

The flip cover can prop up the tablet horizontally. There's an area on the flip cover with magnets to hold onto the bottom of the tablet.

Design

The Huawei MatePad Mini looks stunning.

The tablet is just 5.1mm. Sides are rounded and comfortable to hold, just like other Huawei MatePad tablets.

Weight is just 260g which is considered lightweight. This is a tablet you can hold for long periods of time without discomfort.

My first impression, and currently impression, is the tablet looks amazing and feels great in hand.

The bezels measure 2.99mm. That's like less than half of the bezels from the Apple iPad mini. It's quite incredible to see bezels so thin. But the downside is if you hold the tablet with your thumb on the display, that may interfer with the pen performance.

Shown above is the Huawei MatePad Mini beside the Xiaomi Pad Mini and Apple iPad mini. The Huawei and Xiaomi tablets have 8.8-inch displays and the iPad mini has 8.3-inch. Huawei MatePad Mini uses OLED and the other two use LCD, and in particular the display quality of the iPad mini looks lousy, almost embarrassing, beside the other two tablets.

The Huawei tablet definitely looks and feels more premium compared to the other two tablets.

The USB-C port only has USB-2 transfer speed and does not output video. Charging speed is up to 66W.

The two stereo speakers are loud with good clarity, but lacks bass just like most tablet speakers.

The tablet is available only in green. The huge camera module houses a 50MP f/1.8 wide lens and an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens and a flash. The camera bump is huge so you'll need the back cover to prevent the tablet from wobbling too much on the table.

Display

The Huawei MatePad Mini uses a 8.8-inch OLED display with adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. Resolution is 2560 x 1600 so visual are sharp without pixelation.

Aspect ratio is 16:10 so watching videos won't have thick black bars.

Peak brightness is advertised as 1800 nits and that's probably the HDR brightness. I'm not sure if that's the outdoor under-the-sun brightness but the display certainly looks really bright. Thanks to the extreme 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and high brightness, the OLED looks substantially brighter with auto-brightness when compared to LCD.

The display quality almost perfect.

I say almost perfect because OLED has Pulse Wave Modulation (PWM) and people with sensitive eyes may be affected by PWM. If you are not sure whether your eyes are affect by PWM, it's best to go to an electronics store to look at phones, tablets or TVs with OLED displays, or look at the Huawei MatePad Mini in person.

The front 32MP f/2.4 camera is located at the top right corner, and is a punch hole camera within the OLED display. The camera will block some UI design behind it, but touch still works if you have to tap on some button behind the camera.

The camera supports face unlock, and there's fingerprint unlock.

Auto-brightness works well.

The display is comes with the PaperMatte surface in Singapore. In China, there's also the glossy display option.

The matte glass surface provides excellent anti-glare. If you look at the display from extreme angle, you can still see reflections but when looking from the front, there's absolutely no reflections even if that's a light source pointing at it.

Many people like to say that glossy displays have more vibrant colours. True. But the colours on this matte glass display still looks extremely vibrant to me. I hate reflections so I love the matte surface. I would be incredibly disappointed if the tablet is sold only with the glossy display.

Reading experience is good thanks to the matte surface. I would recommend switching over to black background with white text because the display is kinda bright and can cause eye strain if you're not used to the extra contrast.

8.8-inch is not a good size for reading comics or PDFs because text can look quite small.

Viewing angle is extremely wide and the display is laminated.

I don't have any benchmarks for you except to say that the performance of this tablet is responsive and smooth. There's 12GB of RAM so multi-tasking is not an issue.

I did not try gaming but of course you can game on this tablet, but whether you can run graphics intensive games at the highest settings will depend on the game. i can't provide much info on gaming unfortunately.

OS and software

The tablet runs on HarmonyOS 4.3 and there's no official support for Google Play Store.

Huawei's app store is called Huawei AppGallery and the apps there are mostly in Chinese, and most of the popular English apps are just not available, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, NetFlix, Google apps, Youtube, etc. There is Microsoft Edge but no Microsoft OneDrive.

It is possible to install Google Play Store by installing MicroG, GBox or GSpace and the latter two are available from the Huawei AppGallery. When you install apps from the Google Play Store, some may not work properly, e.g. may not be able to restore past purchases, can't sign in automatically with Google or Facebook authentication, cannot sign into cloud storage with Google, OneDrive or Dropbox. When that happens, you'll have to spend time troubleshooting, install the same app again from GBox or GSpace or APK, or just give up and use the web version instead. e.g. maps.google.com instead of Google Maps app.

I've two versions of Medibang Paint Pro because one can't restore my past purchase.

One version of Kindle cannot load my ebooks from the cloud.

Some apps are just not available for some reason, or for no good reason.

Another downside of HarmonyOS is there are many ads and bloatware and you have to spend the time to remove them. Huawei AppGallery almost always shows you a fullpage ad if you have not opened it for sometime.

You can't export an artwork directly to cloud storage such as Google Drive, DropBox or OneDrive as Huawei file manager has no direct integration.

HarmonyOS does have many useful features of course. There's the side panel that I like that can store more apps, and you can drag an app out for multi-tasking split-screen view.

The Huawei MatePad Mini supports both Huawei M-Pencil Pro and M-Pencil 3.

M-Pencil Pro supports palm rejection, tilt and pressure sensitivity. You can also pinch or double tap the pen for some shortcuts, but those shortcuts only work with selected Huawei apps. There's a button on the back of the pen to quick launch an app. You can also write in a text box, or tap on the sleeping display to create a quick note.

The pen can attach to the side of the tablet for charging and pairing. The pen uses NearLink for pairing instead of Bluetooth. This means you can disable Bluetooth and not disable the pen. NearLink is said to have better latency but I have no way to test.

The default transparent plastic pen tip is very smooth on the matte glass surface. This is good for writing since you want to write fast, but for drawing it's not ideal as it's difficult to control the pen.

There are two other types of pen tips provided by Huawei with slightly more texture but they are still too smooth for drawing.

Third party pen tips are available on AliExpress and I highly recommend you get the full silicone tip instead of the metal tip or the felt tip. The silicone tip has more resistance and allows you to control the pen more easier. Third party pen tips will affect pressure sensitivity slightly.

Drawing experience

The pen has some issues with diagonal line wobble. You don't always get diagonal line wobble though, so the pen performance is not consistent. When sketching, I can definitely see the wobble affect some of my lines, as such accuracy is affected.

If you want to place the tablet on the table to draw, you will need the back cover to prevent the tablet from wobbling from the camera bump, but even the back cover there's still a slight camera bump.

Because the tablet is so small and light, you can easily hold it in one hand with your pen in the other hand.

For drawing I prefer to hold the tablet horizontally but I find my thumb going onto the display often and affecting the pen performance. That's the downside to having such thin bezels.

This was sketched at a cafe.

Having a small and light tablet that you can bring around easily is wonderful.

The drawing experience is not ideal because of the thin bezels, diagonal line wobble and smooth pen tip. For sketching, it's alright but if you need drawing precision and accuracy, then the line wobble will be the deal breaker.

Palm rejection works well by the way.

One feature to switch off first is "Slide across bottom to switch apps" under Gestures settings. When drawing, my resting palm has the tendency to switch app unintentionally and that is incredibly annoying.

Krita does not work well with this tablet because the UI is designed for desktops. Clip Studio Paint is not available from GSpace or GBox. Infinite Painter is not available from GSpace but available from GBox.

Note taking experience is wonderful. The tablet, pen and app are able to capture my handwriting style quite accurately.

Battery life

Battery life is about 10-12 hours with auto brightness and performance mode off. There's fast charging so I don't really have to worry about battery life depleting in one day of use, not that I can deplete it in one day unless I use the tablet non-stop for hours.

Conclusion

The Huawei MatePad Mini is a beautiful well made tablet with premium build quality, amazing display, good sound and responsive performance.

Downsides would be the lack of official support for Google Play Store and the lack of cellular support. But you can install Google Play Store, and get internet from your phone's hotspot so that's not too bad.

I wish Huawei can make the pen performance more consistent because that would make this the ultimate portable digital sketchpad. The iPad mini has good pen performance but the tablet specs are ancient: 60Hz LCD with a dim display going for SGD 849 for 256GB storage and Apple Pencil Pro is another SGD 199. If you want a small form factor tablet but not gonna be using it for drawing, consider the Huawei MatePad Mini or Xiaomi Pad Mini instead.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Beautiful design
+ Excellent build quality
+ Comfortable to hold
+ Really light
+ Bright, sharp, vibrant OLED display
+ Brightness up to 1800 nits
+ 120Hz refresh rate
+ Laminated display
+ Responsive performance
+ Good audio
+ 66W fast charging with Huawei charger
+ 10-12 hour battery life
+ Fingerprint unlock
- HarmonyOS has many ads
- No official support for Google Play Store
- Slow diagonal lines may have wobble or jitter depending on app
- Lines may have pressure variance depending on app
- USB-C only has USB 2 speed
- No SD card slot
- No cellular model in Singapore
- File manager has no integration with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox
- No 100% backup option
- Default pen tip too smooth for drawing
- Bezels can be too thin for thumb holding

Availability

The Huawei MatePad Mini is available in Singapore from Shopee SG and Lazada SG.

Teoh Yi Chie Thu, 07 May 2026 - 13:00

Tags

huawei

huawei m pencil

huawei matepad

tech reviews

drawing tablet reviews

android

Brown waterproof inks compared: Diamine Forever Ink, De Atramentis Document, SketchInk

Teoh Yi Chie — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Brown waterproof inks compared: Diamine Forever Ink, De Atramentis Document, SketchInk

I've been drawing with black inks for years and recently I discovered BingYing's videos where she used brown inks and I was really inspired to do the same too. So I went to my local art store Overjoyed and bought a few bottles of Diamine Forever Ink and De Atramentis Document Ink.

Let's see how the inks look alone and with watercolour applied.

De Atramentis Document Ink, Brown

De Atramentis Document Ink, Sepia Brown

Rohrer & Klingner SketchInk, my main sketching ink

Rohrer & Klingner SketchInk

De Atramentis Document Ink, Urban Sienna

Diamine Forever Ink, Butterscotch

Diamine Forever Ink, Raven

Diamine Forever Ink, Raven, is a nice neutral black that's quite dark but not completely black.

Diamine Forever Ink, Red Ochre

Diamine Forever Ink, Red Ochre.

Diamine Forever Ink, De Atramentis Document Ink and SketchInk are all waterproof and safe to use in fountain pens. However if you're not going to use your fountain pen for long periods of time, it's still best to clean out the pen.

My favourite colour out of those I've tested is definitely Red Ochre. It looks lovely with watercolour. If you prefer a darker brown, there's De Atramentis Urban Sienna.

Daniel Smith walnut ink is not waterproof.

Teoh Yi Chie Wed, 06 May 2026 - 20:30

Tags

diamine

de atramentis

inks

waterproof inks