Drawing on a tablet is convenient when you're on the go, but it also has its drawbacks. That's where XPPen aims to make life easier for digital artists.

The XPPen Magi Drawing Pad is no ordinary Android tablet. It is based on the Android operating system, but some of the improvements made to the tablet itself are what set it apart from other Android tablets. But even with those improvements, is it really worth $499? Let’s take a look.

So the first thing I noticed when the box arrived was that it was larger than I expected for a 12.2 inch tablet. I was immediately curious, but also a little concerned that this might not be the tablet I was expecting.

It turns out there was no reason to worry. The box was so big because of the (sort of cool) way it was packaged, and there was more than just a tablet inside. When you pick up one of these XPPen Magic Drawing Pads, you’ll get a protective case and a stylus pen. Both are nice little features, though I have to admit that the protective case isn’t really my thing. It works well, but there’s a bump on the back to store the stylus so it doesn’t lay flat. Since I want the tablet to lie flat for a lot of my work, I probably won’t be using the case much in the future.