Wacom’s new MovinkPad drawing tablet doesn’t need a PC

Wacom has announced the MovinkPad 11, an all-in-one Android-powered tablet for digital illustrators who want to draw on the go. Unlike other display drawing tablets in Wacom’s lineup, the $449 MovinkPad doesn’t need to be connected to a laptop or PC, placing it in direct competition with the Apple Pencil and iPad combo that’s proved incredibly popular with digital artists.

Unlike Apple’s iPad lineup, however, the 11.45-inch MovinkPad prioritizes digital drawing capabilities over typical activities you would use a tablet for. The MovinkPad features a 2200 x 1440p resolution display with touchscreen support and anti-glare etched glass to reduce reflections and fingerprints. While the Movink drawing tablet that Wacom launched last year features an OLED display, the MovinkPad uses an IPS screen. The display has a color performance of 16.7 million colors and a 99 percent sRGB color gamut coverage ratio.

At 10.5 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches, it’s slightly larger than the 11-inch iPad Air and weighs 1.3 pounds (588 grams) compared to Apple’s one-pound (460 grams) offering. The rest of the MovinkPad features would be fairly forgettable on a regular tablet: it runs on Android 14, features a 5 megapixel front camera, a 4.7 megapixel rear camera, dual microphones, stereo speakers, and support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2 It also includes a USB-C port for charging and 7700mAh lithium-ion battery, but Wacom doesn’t mention what battery life you can expect from a single charge.

Under the hood, the MovinkPad 11 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, the same mid-ranged chip used in the Lenovo Tab Plus that launched last year. The MovinkPad only comes with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, which can’t be expanded. That limitation isn’t ideal for a tablet that users will want to save a lot of image files without relying on cloud storage.

The MovinkPad supports the same 8,192 pressure levels and 60-degree pen tilt angles as Wacom’s main drawing display tablet lineup. It comes with the customizable Wacom Pro Pen 3, which includes a nib holder and customizable side switches, and supports a range of third-party digital pens from brands such as Dr. Grip, Lamy, and Staedtler.

That Android 14 support means that the MovinkPad can support a range of popular digital illustration apps that are available on the Google Play store, including Clip Studio Paint, Ibis Paint, and Krita, and comes with the Wacom Canvas sketching app pre-installed. iPads still have an edge here because Procreate — often ranked as the top creative app on Apple’s App Store — is an iOS exclusive for now, though Procreate developer James Cuda has mused on plans to bring it to other platforms eventually.

The MovinkPad 11 is a far cry from Wacom’s previous attempts to launch an all-in-one drawing tablet: the MobileStudio Pro series came with built-in PC hardware, which made it too heavy to lug around easily and cost up to $3,500, which also made it too expensive for hobbyist illustrators to consider. 

At $449, the MovinkPad undercuts Wacom’s MobileStudio Pro line, but the cheapest A16 chip iPad ($349) is still a more affordable choice, even with the additional requirement to purchase a first-gen Apple Pencil ($99). Still, the Wacom Pro Pen 3 support and other illustration-focused goodies may give Wacom the opportunity to poach customers who were looking at Apple’s more expensive iPad models.