The XP-Pen Magic Note Pad Is Like If a Kindle and an iPad Had a Baby

Three color modes: Can an LED look like e-ink?

Credit: Joel Cunningham

The Magic Note Pad's biggest selling point is its "X-Paper" screen (which appears to be a rebranded version of TCL's NXTPAPER display), which has 1920 x 1200 resolution, a speedy 90 Hz refresh rate, and maximum 400 nits of brightness (in comparison, the entry level iPad offers a 60 Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness). It has an etched surface to reduce glare as well as three different color modes, controlled at the operating system level, that ostensibly take it from full color LED tablet to a black and white e-reader.

There's a dedicated button on the top of the device that allows you to choose between

• Nature Color Mode, or the standard you'd expect from any LED screen

• Light Color Mode, which makes bright whites look creamier and mutes other colors, akin to the effect of reading on newsprint (or a color e-ink reader like the Kindle Colorsoft)

• Ink Paper Mode, which purports to replicate a greyscale e-ink display

When you switch modes, you'll see a cute transition animation. When using Ink Paper Mode, the system icons will also be swapped out for simplified versions. Of course, if you know anything about the different tech involved, you'll see that it's pretty impossible for a backlit LED screen to transform into an e-ink screen just by messing with the color settings.

Yes, Light Color Mode and Ink Paper mode do reduce blue light, which some suggest make LED screens hard on our eyes. The device is TÜV SÜD Low Blue Light Certified, indicating it reduces blue light by 25%. It also carries a Paper Like Display Certification, which I guess means it is more paper-like than other LED screens, offering a "more comfortable and natural reading experience."

This is all true enough, provided you're comparing it to the screen on an iPad. The etched screen does reduce glare, and reading in Ink Paper Mode will tax your eyes a bit less if you're reading in a dim room. But take it outside, and it's unquestionably still an LED tablet—you can't magically read in direct sunlight (as you could on a Kindle) just by switching the display mode.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

And Low Blue Light certification or no, I also would never say the Magic Note Pad feels like reading on a Kindle in a dark room, even in Ink Paper Mode. It's a bit of a softer effect than putting my iPhone in "night mode" to reduce the blue light, but I definitely still felt like I was reading from a bright LED screen, and I much prefer the soothing front light from a true e-ink reader, like my Boox Palma.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

Note-taking and drawing: A surprisingly good stylus; a love it or hate it feel

Credit: Joel Cunningham

XP-Pen made its name with its drawing tablets, including a sister device, called the Magic Drawing Pad. Both tout their capabilities for writing notes and sketching, with the included X3 Pro Pencil 2 stylus offering 16,384 "pressure levels." Pressure level is a number that describes how sensitive a digital writing implement is. If you think 16,384 sounds like a lot of pressure levels, it apparently is—the Apple Pencil has a mere 4,096 pressure levels.

Does having four times the pressure levels actually matter? I'd wager that if you know enough to care how many pressure levels a stylus has, then it might matter for you—if you create a lot of digital art, it might matter to you a lot (XP-Pen has been praised for its drawing tablets, after all).

But for someone who only plans to use the Magic Note Pad to, er, take notes, I'd wager it's overkill. The stylus is certainly responsive, I'll give it that—there is no noticeable latency when using it to write onto the screen, and I had little trouble positioning the nib exactly where I wanted to on the virtual "page" (a problem I've had with other, less accurate styluses I've tested). The action button is also a nice touch; out of the box, clicking it will activate the eraser. If you venture into the XP-Pen Reddit community, you can learn how to map different functions to the button in certain apps.

Not for everyone (or at least, not for me)

But the thing is, I don't like taking notes on the Magic Note Pad very much—I've recently tested the Supernote Manta and the reMarkable Paper Pro, two e-ink devices that aim to recreate the feel of writing on paper, and that actually manage a fair approximation of it. With a mode that recreates the look of an e-ink screen, you can tell the Magic Notepad kinda wants to be the replacement for your physical notebook too, but it's not nearly there when it comes to the tactile experience.

Instead of jotting thoughts into a notebook with a pen, writing on the Magic Note Pad feels like drawing on a window with a Crayola marker—slick and weightless and kind of like nothing at all. I prefer a bit more, er, friction; if you're either more practiced with using a stylus on a tablet screen, or less sensitive to its dissonant qualities, this might be less of an issue for you. In terms of functionality, at least, it actually performs really well. (Artists seem to love it.)

The native notes app is a letdown

The Magic Note Pad comes with a native notes app, called XPPen Notes. It's actually based on a preexisting notes app called Jnotes, which offers a lot of the writing and organizational functionality you might expect, from multiple writing implements, to a variety of preset templates, to shape recognition, OCR, and other tools. Unfortunately, many of the higher-level functions are locked behind a paywall; accessing them via a "lifetime" subscription will cost you $10. That's not that much, but also, it feels cheap to ask someone who just bought your $450 tablet to pay another $10 to unlock all the features in one of its native apps. (The website copy indicates XP-Pen has "partnered with Jnote" to provide membership access, but I was not granted this boon; I've emailed XP-Pen to ask about it and will update this review when I have more clarity.)

Fortunately, given you can access the Google Play store, you can also just download whatever notes app you prefer.

Good for games, apps, and media, with a caveat

Speaking of the Google Play store, yes, it's also preloaded, which means you can run basically any app you want to, provided it runs on Android 14. I tested out the usual suspects, from the Kindle app for reading to Netflix for streaming video, and a few app-based games. Would you believe that they worked just like they would on virtually any other modern tablet? Shocking, I know. (Given this thing isn't built for performance, however, high demand titles like Genshin Impact might overtax it.)

Credit: Joel Cunningham

There is a downside worth noting, however—the etching that has been added to the screen to reduce glare also gives it a weird silver-sheened matte quality. It's hard to photograph, but in effect, it makes it seem like there is a filter between you and the image on the screen, and it also impacts the viewing angle. While I can lie my iPhone flat on the table in front of me and still see the screen clearly, doing the same with the Magic Note Pad makes the image look dimmer and harder to see. This is most notable when you're trying to watch a movie—unless you're holding the screen directly in front of your eyes, you'll feel like you're looking through a grayish haze.

Other tablet-y stuff

Look, outside of the stylus support and the color modes, this is a pretty decent Android tablet. It has a Mediatek MT8781 Octa-core processor, which seems to be a reliable mid-range chip, with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (which will have to be enough, as there is no Micro SD card slot).

It has an 8000mAh battery, which will last a few days between charges based on typical use—though it has an "e-ink mode," it definitely chugs battery like an LED tablet, whatever colors it's showing you.

There's also a 13MP front-facing camera for video calls, but no rear camera. Bluetooth support, but no headphone jack. Etc.

Design: Slightly awkward

Credit: Joel Cunningham

In a sea of nearly identical looking slabs of glass, the Magic Note Pad stands out thanks to a few design quirks, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

It feels pretty solid, with a metal frame housing two microphones, with dual speaker grilles on opposites sides of the device, giving you fairly decent stereo sound (obviously you can connect your Bluetooth headphones, too). The offset bezel has a depressed well where you can magnetically attach the stylus, which is convenient, if a bit silly looking—especially when coupled with the magnetic case, which has a protruding plastic section to allow for the cover to close with the pen attached. The case has a matte texture that does a great job gathering dust and smudges.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

The back of the device is slick and metallic (not sure if it's actually metal or coated plastic) that slides around a lot on the table, so you'll want to keep it in the case while writing. The weight feels pretty reasonable at 495g—a little over a pound, and 20g to 50g heavier than the current generation of iPads.

Not quite magic, but pretty good