Review: Ugee UE16 - ultimate budget 15.4-inch pen display

Review unit provided by Ugee

The Ugee UE16 is the new 15.4-inch 1080P pen display released by Ugee in 2024. This is the bigger version of the Ugee UE12 I reviewed last year.

Price is USD 180 and it comes with one year warranty. This price is incredibly attractive because pen displays of similar size from other companies are usually USD 200 or higher.

Bottom line

The Ugee UE16 provides immense value for money. This is a decent looking pen display with excellent drawing performance. That's pretty much all you need to know to make the purchase.

I think of this as the successor to the Ugee U1600 which is the previous budget no-frills pen display I recommend often because of the USD 160 pricing. UE16 has more hotkeys, but price has increased by USD 20.

I have no idea how Ugee is able to keep their prices so low but they are doing the art community a huge favour with the insanely competitive pricing. Going forward, this will be the pen display I'll recommend to people with a USD 200 budget.

Specifications

• Display: 15.4-inch (1920 x 1080) display
• Refresh rate: 60Hz
• Dimensions: 437.6 x 259.2 x 13 mm
• Active Area: 341.0 x 191.8 mm
• Color Gamut: 143% sRGB
• Resolution: 5080 LPI
• Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
• Pen: U-Pencil with 16,384 pressure levels and ±60° tilt recognition
• Pen Reading Height: 10 mm
• Shortcut Keys: 10 virtual shortcut keys, 8 physical shortcut keys with a scroll wheel
• Weight: 1.28 kg (2.82 lbs)
• Ports: USB-C
• Compatibility: Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, Linux, Android, HarmonyOS
• Anti-Glare Screen: Yes
• Full-Laminated Screen: Yes

Things included

• 1 x Ugee UE16
• 1 x Battery-free Stylus
• 1 x Nib Extractor
• 20 x Replacement Nibs
• 1 x USB-C to C Cable
• 1 x USB-C to A Cable
• 1 x 3-in-1 Cable
• 1 x Adjustable Stand
• 1 x Cleaning Cloth
• 1 x Quick Guide
• 1 x Warranty Card

The pen display comes with a matte screen protector already applied. When peeling off the protective film (below the red label), make sure you do not peel off the matte screen protector.

The included folding stand can deploy the pen display at different angles.

Design

This is a clean, simple and straightforward design. Build quality feels plasticky and solid enough, but there will be squeaky sound if you flex the pen display.

The back is matte textured and there are four rubber feet. Both the front and back are quite susceptible to fingerprints and smudges.

Anti-glare of the matte screen protector is quite aggressive so diffused reflections can be glaring.

A matte screen protector may scratch with usage. Since I can't test this review unit for extended period of time, I can't tell you how easy or resistant the matte screen protector is to scratches.

All matte surfaces will introduce some grain, colour noise or anti-glare sparkle. This pen display does have visible anti-glare sparkle. I don't think it's an issue or too distracting, but this is subjective to different people.

The matte screen protector does not affect the sharpness of the display. Anyway, the display resolution is 1080P so there will be visible pixelation on a 15.4-inch display. That's just the compromise for a budget pen display.

Display is laminated but there's some thickness to the glass so there is a gap between the pen tip and line. However when looking from the front, there is no gap between the pen tip and line after calibration.

The pen is quite smooth on the drawing surface. The tactile drawing experience is quite subtle.

There are customisable hotkeys and a dial by the left side. The hotkeys have firm feedback when pressed.

The power and brightness control buttons are by the left. To access the OSD, you have to press the two brightness buttons at the same time. OSD will present the following display mode options: sRGB, AdobeRGB, P3, Custom (best for colour calibration).

The included cables will fit with the recessed USB-C ports perfectly. If you want to use your own USB-C cable, you'll need one where the connector is small enough to go into the recessed area.

Connection
It is possible to use one USB-C cable to power the pen display and drive it to maximum brightness.

If you want to use HDMI, the included 3-to-1 cable is needed. And you'll need to connect one USB-A connector to power source, which can be any phone charger.

I measured colour support for 99% sRGB, 97% P3, 92% AdobeRGB, 90% NTSC and a maximum brightness of 191 nits. Colour accuracy is acceptable and colours look alright. Interestingly, the previous model Ugee U1600 actually has noticeably better colour accuracy.

I typically use my displays at around 150 - 200 nits so 191 nits of brightness is sufficient for me. The brightness is not high enough to go through the diffused reflections though.

Refresh rate of the display is 60 Hz

This pen display does not support finger gestures because it's not a touchscreen.

Pen

The pen is slim and has a matte textured surface that provides good grip. Build quality is plasticky but solid enough.

There are two customisable side buttons and an eraser.

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

Pen tip has slight movement when in contact with the drawing surface. Seems like Ugee only provides plastic pen tips and there are no felt tip options.

Cursor tracking is accurate up to the extreme left and right edges. Cursor also does not stray away from the pen tip regardless of the pen's angle.

Driver

Mac and Windows drivers are available.

This is where the two side buttons and eraser button can be customised.

These are the customisation options available to the pen buttons and hotkeys. I usually side one pen button to Switch Display and that works fine.

Pen pressure curve can be adjusted by moving three control points.

Here's where you can customise the 8 hotkeys and the roller (with up to four shortcuts). It is possible to create shortcut groups for specific apps, and those shortcuts will load automatically depending on the active app.

You can also create 16 virtual hotkeys that will appear on screen at the top middle area. You can then use the pen to access the shortcuts.

Mapping of the working area can be left as default most of the time. If there is cursor misalignment, you can click "Advanced Settings" to calibrate the pen. It is also possible to change the orientation of the pen display so that the hotkeys are on the right side instead of left.

Driver settings can be saved and backed up.

Line tests

Line tests below were created with Medibang Paint Pro on the Mac. Pen performance is quite consistent with other drawing apps.

1. Initial activation force is low. Thin lines can be drawn easily even with a thick brush selected. Slow diagonal lines have slight wobble which will not show up when actually drawing.

2. Thick brushes will taper more abruptly. Thinner lines will taper smoothly and sharply.

3. Line transition from thin to thick and back to thin is smooth. This is also a diagonal line and there's no noticeable diagonal line wobble.

4. Consistent line width can be created by maintaining consistent pressure.

5. Dots may not appear with this app so you'll have to tap and drag for the dots to appear. This problem does not happen with Clip Studio Paint, and hence this problem will depend on the drawing app used.

6. This is the cursor misalignment test. Separate lines can be joined without leaving gaps or overshooting. There's also thin and thick line variation due to pressure that creates more expressive lines.

The pen performs well. Pen performance is consistent and predictable.

Drawing experience

15.4-inch is a good size for drawing. It's slightly shorter than A4 paper but wider. There's space for palettes on the left and right and enough canvas space left over for drawing.

Hand is able to glide on the matte surface quite easily. As mentioned earlier, the matte surface is quite susceptible to fingerprint and smudges so cleaning the surface after each drawing session is recommended.

The matte surface is quite smooth and tactile experience is subtle. Those who prefer a more tactile drawing experience will have to take time to get used to this.

The display does not get that warm even at maximum brightness because the display does not use that much power (from the USB port from your computer).

This was drawn with Medibang Paint Pro. I didn't have any issues with drawing. Workflow was smooth.

Since the pen performance is great, overall drawing experience is satisfactory. The pen is really sensitive and a joy to work with. The pen performance is definitely good enough for creating professional art.

There are no issues with hatching or cross hatching lines. The amount of latency is quite similar to other pen displays. Latency is not something I think about when drawing at my usual speed.

Conclusion

The Ugee UE16 is probably the best deal for a pen display with a limited budget of USD 180.

For USD 180, pen display are usually 13-inches or smaller. The only other 15-inch pen display I know that's USD 180 is the Artisul D16 from 2018.

For USD 180, you get all the cables and even a table stand. This is just an incredible deal and I'm saying this as someone who has reviewed too many pen displays.

For a budget pen display, there will be compromises. The downsides and compromises are the use of a matte screen protector instead of matte glass, less than ideal colour support and plasticky build quality. The pros are the amazing pen performance, colours do look alright and the pricing is crazy attractive.

Since Ugee has phased out the budget king Ugee U1600, this Ugee UE16 will be the next budget king that I can recommend easily to people with a limited budget. If you are thinking of buying a 13-inch pen display, I say stretch your budget slightly to get this because you will not regret it.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Clean and simple design
+ Big pen display for the price
+ Matte screen protector already applied
+ All cables and even a tablet stand are included
+ Fantastic pen performance
+ Decent colour support and brightness
+ 8 hotkeys and a dial
+ 16 virtual keys
+ Extremely attractive price
- Matte screen protector has anti-glare sparkle
- Front and back are susceptible to fingerprint and smudges
- Plasticky build quality
- Anti-glare is quite aggressive

Availability

The Ugee UE16 is available from the Ugee online store

It's also available on Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES)

You may even find this at USD 160 on Amazon US occasionally. Unfortunately the price is much higher for those in European countries.