Android Writing - New Tablet, Keyboard and Pen

📆 27 Dec 2025 14:00 UTC +00:00 📕 896 words ⏳ 7 min.
🏷️#Android#Tablet#Writing

For Christmas, I got an Android tablet with the plan to use it for writing. I chose a bundle from the manufacturer that included a stylus and a wireless keyboard as well as the tablet itself of course. This blost will go through what tablet I chose and the peripherals as well as the software that I’m using for various different parts of my different workflows.

The Tablet

I did a small bit of research into various Android tablets and came across the Lenovo Tab lineup. I have been using a Lenovo laptop since 2016 with both windows and Linux, and is currently my Arch machine at the moment. I saw that they were selling bundles of tablets, styluses and keyboards and decided to go for one of them as it fit my needs as a writing device.

The tablet that I ended up going with was the Lenovo Tab M11. A decent all round tablet, with a nice stylus and keyboard so I am having a great time.

The Setup

I was expecting the setup process to take a while and so I was pleasantly surprised when it only took 10-15 minutes.

I did a little bit of playing around with it and found the default launcher very laggy and that affected the whole system, so I changed it to Nova Launcher which has been running super smoothly and looks awesome as well as being functional.

The Stylus

The stylus is a Lenovo stylus, not sure what it’s actual product name is, I did do a quick test of stylus which allows me to do handwriting in apps (so I can write blosts using a pen but it is still digital :) ) and do pixel art in LibreSprite. The stylus also has pressure sensitivity which allows me to do some pressure based stuff in Krita if I feel like it.

The Keyboard

The keyboard is a Lenovo Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard and has the UK keyboard layout on the little text on the keyboard itself. It feels really good to type on and is a nice small size, it’s the same width as the tablet which is 11”.

Applications

Note Taking

I am using a couple of different note taking apps. Each for different things.

For writing my blosts and other things I might need on another device, I am using the Nextcloud notes app which works great and which I’ve used on my phone for about a month now. I have been using the stylus to write a lot of this blost and it’s worked really well. Syncing with my Nextcloud account means I can also write bits for my blog and for safe keeping on my phone and laptops as well, if I am away from my tablet.

And for the main reason I got this tablet, my writing (so novels, short stories, etc.), I have installed Quillpad for this, to sit and focus on my writing.

Web Browser

As always, my go to browser is Vivaldi, which is a blost all on its own, but it’s all setup and has sync running which links it to my phone and laptop’s browsers and helps continuity between devices.

I have also installed Chromium as a secondary/backup browser for if I want or need it.

Art Stuff

I am planning on doing a little bit of art stuff on this tablet as well so I installed 2 art apps; Krita and LibreSprite. Krita for general image manipulation and sketching, painting, etc. And LibreSprite for pixel art, which is a development version but still works quite well. I might do a blost about that on its own at some point.

Writing

I haven’t done any writing yet as of writing this, apart from this blost but I am getting myself setup at my desk as I write the conclusion to this post with my new tablet stand and the wireless keyboard and have made a small start to a new novel which I hope to write a significant amount of in the coming months.

I have no real experience of writing stories, novels, etc. but I hope that I can use what I’ve learnt over my years of blogging and write something that I am proud of. BUUUUUUT I do need to find one story that I want to work on and stick with it, not jump around which I have done in the last little while with my many attempts to start novels. Maybe having a device specifically for writing will help me to do that.

Conclusion

Overall, I have been enjoying the experience of using this tablet. I’ve got it mostly setup how I like it, I might change the wallpaper away from one of the defaults eventually but I’m content at the moment with it. I hope to write a little bit more soon and I am certain that this tablet will be the key to doing more.

As I have said throughout this blost, I am having a whale of a time and am really enjoying my time using it. I think I’ll be using this tablet quite a bit.

Anyway, I think that’s about it, a bit rambly and all over the place, so I’m going to wrap it up here and I’ll catch you in the next one. BYEEE!!!