Review: Ugee UT3: 14-inch android tablet with pen support

Review unit provided by ugee

The ugee UT3 is a massive 14.25-inch portable drawing tablet that's almost the same size as the Samsung Tab S9 Ultra.

This tablet runs on Android 14 and is one of two tablets released by ugee on 11 Oct 2024, the other being the ugee UT2 that I've also reviewed.

Here are the main differences between the two:

• Size, obviously
• UT2 has better pen performance
• UT3 has more software features

Prices for UT2 are as follows:

• Early bird special 11 - 15 Oct 2024: USD 169
• Pre-sale 15 - 30 Oct 2024: USD 199
• Retail 2 Nov 2024 onwards: USD 249

Prices for UT3 are as follows:

• Early bird special 11 - 15 Oct 2024: USD 299
• Pre-sale 15 - 18 Oct 2024: USD 319
• Retail 2 Nov 2024 onwards: USD 429

The tablets come with one year warranty.

Video review

Specifications

• 14.25-inch IPS LCD
• Resolution: 2400 x 1600
• Aspect ratio: 3:2
• Refresh rate: 60Hz
• Surface: Matte glass laminated display
• Processor: MediaTek MT8781 Helio G99
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 256GB
• Card slot: None
• Pen: ugee U-pencil
• Thickness: 6.95mm
• Weight: 760g, not including flip case
• Camera: Front 13MP, rear 8MP
• Battery capacity: 10,000 mAh with 33W charging
• OS: Android 14 with Google Play Store

Things included

• Tablet
• Artist glove
• ugee U-pencil
• USB-C to USB-C cable
• 32W charger
• Pen nib remover
• 1x replacement pen nib
• Quick start guide

Design

The ugee UT3 is a massive tablet with a 14.25-inch LCD display. This tablet is almost as big as the Samsung Tab S9 Ultra and the Simbans PicassoTab X14 reviewed last year. These are currently the largest Android tablets with pen support as of 2024, as far as I know.

The display is almost as big as A4 size paper which is a lot of space for drawing.

Advantages of a big tablet are

• You can run drawing apps with lots of UI elements, e.g. Clip Studio Paint, Krita
• Split screen mode works better
• Display can be used as a big wireless external display

Bezels are thin enough. Corners for the body and LCD are rounded off. Front camera supports face unlock and works well enough. Build quality is solid.

Weight is 760g which is reasonable for a tablet of this size, but it's heavier if you add the flip case.

I would consider this a tabletop tablet. Holding the tablet for long periods of time is tiring. The huge size also makes the tablet unwieldy so having any form of support is preferred.

I recommend getting a tablet stand (Parblo PR100) since the flip case is not strong enough to support the tablet for drawing.

The flip case has a hard plastic shell, and there's a space between the two feet below to store the pen magnetically.

The back is quite susceptible to fingerprints.

The matte textured surface provides a subtle tactile drawing experience that feels nice. The matte surface also doesn't stick to the palm compared to glossy displays.

The matte surface introduces slight colour noise but does not affect image quality much. Not noticeable unless you're looking for it.

Display is laminated so there's almost no gap between the line and the pen tip.

Colours on the matte display look vibrant. Display has high brightness good enough for bright room environment. Resolution of 2400 x 1600 makes everything looks sharp. Since this is LCD, there is IPS glow but it's not much of an issue.

Reading comics on this tablet is a wonderful experience. There are three colours modes to choose from by pressing a dedicated button located at the top right (landscape orientation). Shown above is the default colour mode.

This is the colour paper mode with desaturated colours.

This is the black and white mode.

Pen

The ugee U-pencil included with UT2 and UT3 have different designs but are interchangeable and can work on either tablets.

UT3's pen (above) has two side buttons but no eraser. UT2's pen has an eraser at the back but not side buttons.

Pen tip has minimal movement when in contact with the drawing surface.

The pen side buttons are customisable only with shortcuts for Back, Home, Recents, Shortcut Panel and Undefined. Drawing apps are unable to customise the buttons.

Line test

Line tests below were created Medibang Paint

1. Initial activation force is low enough but there's the occasional broken line for some reason (not due to magnets). There is noticeable diagonal line wobble and jitter unfortunately.

2. Lines are able to taper smoothly and sharply

3. Line transition from thin to thick and back is smooth. This is also a diagonal line and there's diagonal line wobble and jitter.

4. Line width can be maintained consistently by applying consistent pressure.

5. No issues with drawing dots.

6. Here you can see the lines are mostly thick because you have to press down harder to avoid broken lines when drawing with a light touch.

Tilt works fine with Sketchbook Pro, but not as well with Concepts where the tilt transition is not smooth.

Drawing experience

Drawing performance and accuracy are affected by diagonal line wobble and jitter and occasional broken line.

The broken line usually affects long lines. For writing, it mostly works fine.

Infinite Painter is an app that's quite sensitive to diagonal line wobble and jitter problems. I didn't really have much issues with the above drawing maybe because it's an organic subject without many straight lines. I was also able to use tilt sensitivity to get the textured broad strokes.

This van was drawn with Medibang Painta and latency seems to be slightly better than ugee UT2 where latency is 20ms. ugee has not listed the latency with this tablet so I can't give you a number.

This was drawn with Infinite Painter and it was very challenging to draw the straight lines.

This was drawn with Concepts and there wasn't any issues. Concepts app is a more forgiving app even if pen performance is not prefect.

This was also drawn with Concepts. No issues.

Generally speaking, if you have to draw diagonal lines, accuracy will be affected. So drawing things like buildings, vehicles, furniture will be difficult.

Battery life

Battery capacity is 10,000 mAh. I was able to get around 5 and a half hours of battery life when using the tablet at maximum brightness.

Conclusion

If the ugee UT3 isn't targeted at artists, it's actually a decent tablet with huge screen and smooth performance. But this is made for drawing and there's diagonal line wobble and jitter, so that affects accuracy. While it is possible to work around the hardware limitations, it's not ideal. Interestingly, the smaller ugee UT2 actually has better pen performance.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Design looks good
+ Big display has several advantages as mentioned earlier
+ Has face unlock
+ Display is vibrant, sharp and bright
+ Matte surface is provides nice subtle tactile drawing
+ 8GB RAM with 256GB storage
+ Dedicated button for changing colour mode
+ 5.5 hours of battery life at maximum brightness
+ Android 14 with Google Play Store
- No SIM or microSD card slot
- Pen suffers from diagonal line wobble and jitter
- Case is not made to prop up the tablet for drawing
- Audio sounds hollow

Availability

The ugee UT3 is available from ugee online store