XPPen's Magic Note Pad Helps Unlock Your Professional Flow State

With the arrival of the Magic Note Pad, XPPen introduces yet another tool for academics, working professionals and artists to enhance their creative ecosystems and maximize their professional workflows. Combining an X-Paper display with the advanced X3 Pro Pencil 2 stylus, a custom-designed note-taking app and an open Android ecosystem, the world’s first 3-in-1 Color Note Pad offers an unparalleled digital writing experience that redefines modern work practices.

Engineered with 16.7 million colors and an advanced 90Hz refresh rate, XPPen's cutting-edge 3-in-1 X-Paper display delivers exceptional fluidity, brilliant saturation and clarity and ultra-smooth motion through three unique color modes (Ink Paper, Light Color and Nature Color Mode). The upgraded X3 Pro Pencil 2 offers 16K pressure levels, customizable shortcuts and responsive EMR technology. Engineered for the paper-like writing experience, the X3 Pro Pencil 2 features a refined soft nib design that glides effortlessly across the display. When used in tandem with the XPPen Notes APP, users benefit from an incredibly smooth, immersive writing experience that transcends the ordinary.

Since its grand debut in March, the Magic Note Pad has garnered a reputation for its practical utility across industries, serving as a logistical tool for educational and professional work environments. XPPen tapped London-based writer and author Vicky Zimmerman — known for the best-selling novel, Pear Shaped (written under the pseudonym Stella Newman), and her body of journalism and reporting across prestigious publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, Arena Homme Plus, POP Magazine and more — to talk about the intricacies of her writing practice. Jackson Ng, Senior Barrister and Partner at a global law firm, also met up with the brand to speak about his experience elevating his work with modern productivity tools that help manage and consolidate his daily tasks as a consultant with a focus on civil and commercial litigation.

In the conversation below, the duo discuss how they manage hectic work output, prioritizing efficiency and an uninterrupted flow state with the Magic Note Pad.

XPPen: How would you describe yourself?

Vicky Zimmerman: I'm Vicky Zimmerman and I am a writer. I also write under the name of Stella Newman. I've had five novels published. My first one was ten years ago. It was a bestseller called Pear Shaped. My work has been translated into eight different languages and been published all over the world. I always wanted to be a writer, but my family thought I should have a proper job. So I did lots of jobs before I became a writer.

My books are about relationships, so I think they should appeal to men and women equally. But I think the way that fiction is marketed is often certain colored books for girls. So pink books for girls and blue books for boys. And I think that's an unfortunate side product of marketing. But my books are to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.

Jackson Ng: My name is Jackson. I'm a barrister and I'm also a local councillor with a local government. Personally, I'm very very committed to justice and advocacy. I always want to use my legal and political platforms and skills to uplift people, to change people's lives. My father served in the public sector in Singapore. My mother was an Indonesian Chinese refugee. Both of them shaped my understanding of what public service meant. I was helping make legal decisions and legal strategy about how to help individuals and companies.

And I've come to realize in British society, there tends to be a lack of understanding of British Chinese communities, Chinese communities and business environment, and that sparked my transition into politics. I think to really affect change, I need to bring our British Chinese point of view into government.

XPPen: How do you capture and organize ideas when inspiration strikes?

Vicky: As a novelist, you go through many stages in what you want to write, whether that's a mind map at the start of a project, or if you have an idea in the middle of a commute and you are desperate to get it down, or if you want to write longhand in a more thoughtful way.

It's so easy nowadays to type. When I type, I can write a lot of words very quickly, but actually I get the best ideas and the best writing when I am using a pen because I think it takes that extra time to go from your brain through your hand, and it makes you a little more thoughtful. So as much as I would like to rush it, the work is better when I write it down.

XPPen: For your particular work flow, how do you maintain efficiency in such demanding roles?

Jackson: The real key point here I think when you're balancing many balls in the air, you need to be very organized. So I rely on productivity tools like daily checklists and notes to have my [brainstorms] synced onto the cloud. The information that I put onto my tablet is then synced onto my wanted platform, allowing me to manage responsibilities when I'm traveling between the office and the court where I'm a politician or even doing international travel.

For example, I could be knocking on hundreds of doors, talking to each resident about what's happening within a certain neighborhood that requires me to walk long distances and work outdoors. So, I wouldn't want to carry too much stuff around. But having a tablet that allows me to read in itself outdoors allows me to work quite quickly. I bring it along just to knock down house No. 5 — what do they think about the local school, what do they think about local road repairs. It's ultimately synced onto a cloud, where my political assistance can access this note almost on a real time basis. That's very helpful for me.

XPPen: Having used the Magic Note Pad in your day-to-day workflows, what features are you most impressed by?

Vicky: The Magic Note Pad, you can do any one of those things. I really love the pencil. It's got a very soft nib, so it feels completely natural. Whether you're doing a thick stroke or a very defined line, it's just a completely pleasurable experience, really natural, really easy, and you can rub it out. The screen feels just like paper. With the pen and the screen combined, it's just like writing with ink on a piece of paper. 

The Magic Note Pad uses the Google ecosystem so with one click, you can download whatever apps you want — whether that's for fun or for work, it's seamless. The three color mode and the ease you can switch between those modes.

The Nature Color Mode is great for watching entertainment, and then, if I want to read, Light Color Mode is much more gentle to just relax with. And then when I'm writing, I really like the e-ink mode because it's very crisp and sharp and nice to use. 

One really cool thing is that it's got this one click function on the pen. So if you have a great idea and you want to jot it down quickly, you press this little button on the pen, touch the screen, and you're straight into notes. It's really good thinking.

I have a very active brain. I imagine all humans do. I can only speak for myself, but if I don't write something down, it gets lost. I think it's key to write things down quickly, and it really helps me stay organized. In terms of productivity. I love this product because everything is in one place. I can just put one thing in my bag. I don't need notepads and separate books. It's all there and I can capture all my ideas. Particularly when I'm traveling, it's just amazing portability and it's very streamlined, writing things down and taking them off. Personally I just find it very satisfying: start small, write things down into manageable chunks and stay off your mobile phone.

Jackson: I'm actually quite old, so actually I grew up using a pen and a fountain pen and a pencil to take notes, and even to university in the early parts of my career. It was very much handwriting stuff. So I really like this tablet because the realistic paper-like approach allows me to write quite naturally along with this great pen. It's great for reading long sessions of legal documents or political documents without causing eyestrain. In fast-paced environments, like doing court hearings, it's able to jot down stuff quite quickly without worrying about running out of paper.

It then allows me to basically cross reference it quite easily by search or conversion into text. I think this blend of traditional writing and intelligent technology helps me be efficient. 3-in-1 color modes adapt to diverse scenarios. You have the natural color mode, which is very bright, vivid, true-to-color for multimedia, and then there is the light color mode, which is gentle, a low saturation display for prolonged comfort but it’s colored. And then you have the e-ink sort of mode, which is classic black and white, very much like the feeling of paper. Sharing between these modes with a simple click of the button allows me to move seamlessly from different working environments. Quite often I'm walking and talking and looking at documents at the same time. I've also discovered this function where you can press the pen and then it automatically brings you straight into the note writing function. 

For me, I think an intelligent ecosystem is very important. It allows notes, documentation, drawing, photos that are synced and integrated with the cloud. It allows collaboration between different users. Ultimately, this is how a note-taking ecosystem can revolutionize productivity, because it simplifies the way we work, it simplifies workflow for all kinds of users, whether it's professionals like myself, students, or even creative minds.

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