Writing on matte glass vs e-ink tablets

This article is written for those deciding whether to buy a tablet with matte glass or e-ink display primarily for note taking.

Difference between an e-ink tablet vs a normal Android tablet

The main difference is the user interface that's running on top of Android. E-ink tablets may not have as many software features compared to Android tablets from big companies such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, etc. Some e-ink tablets don't even have the Google Play Store. E-ink tablets are made primarily for reading, and in recent years the displays have become much better with improved latency for writing.

Advantage of a normal Android tablet is it's just more versatile with more software features. Downside is some people may not like the glossy glass display which which has reflections, or there's something about the LCD or OLED that creates eye fatigue. And that's why people consider e-ink tablets. Some may prefer e-ink simply because of the lack of software features because you get a device that's more focused for reading and writing.

It's nice to see that more companies are providing matte glass display options for their tablets. For example, there's the Apple M4 iPad Pro with its nano-texture glass, Huawei MatePad PaperMatte edition tablets, Ugee UT2 and XPPen Magic Drawing Pad which are both more for drawing than writing, and more.

As for pricing, some e-ink tablets can be as expensive as normal Android tablets. But Android tablets with pen support are usually more expensive then those without.

Matte glass vs e-ink display

Matte glass is glass with an etched surface to create the texture that provides anti-glare and reduces reflections. All matte textured surfaces will introduce some grain, colour noise or anti-glare sparkle to affect visual quality and contrast. Glossy displays do provide better colour vibrance and contrast, but some people just prefer a matte surface for the anti-glare and tactile writing or drawing experience.

Matte glass is more durable compared to a e-ink display which is basically a plastic surface.

It is unlikely to scratch an e-ink display though since most pens are using soft or plastic pen tips.

How smooth the pen tip is on the surface really depends on the type of pen tip and the surface. Based on all the tablets I've reviewed so far, I would say the tactile writing experience is more noticeable on e-ink displays than on matte glass, and writing on matte glass is more smooth.

Another difference is when writing on matte glass, there's more density so a hard pen tip may create a more audible tapping down with each stroke. Even if there's no pen tip tapping sound, you will definitely feel the difference when writing on a denser material.

Writing on an e-ink display feels more like writing on paper due as the surface is less dense, and there's usually no pen tip tapping sound.

Other things to note

Before buying a tablet, find out the pen latency.

Latency is how big that gap will be from the line that's chasing after the pen tip. Just for comparison purposes, the Samsung S Pen has a 2.8ms latency. So you'll want pen latency to be as good as that, or even lower.

Another thing to find out is how easy it is to buy replacement pen tips, and how expensive they are.

Which do I prefer

The tactile writing experience is certainly better on e-ink tablets, but I prefer a normal Android tablet for the software features. I personally don't mind writing on glass, whether glossy or matte, since I've gotten used to that.

If you prefer e-ink display for writing, I'm happy to say that there are many e-ink tablets with low pen latency so writing experience can be pretty good. Just do some research and read more reviews before you buy one. Definitely make sure to find out the pen latency in advance.