Huion Kamvas 22 Plus & Mini Keydial
I’ve been spoilt with regards to interactive pen displays. I currently use a touch enabled, 24-inch Cintiq so when it comes to reviewing other devices, I inevitably end up comparing them. Up to now I’ve tested smaller displays so this hasn’t been much of an issue as I could dial down my expectations because of the differences in size and features, but when Huion offered to send me the Kamvas 22 Plus and the Mini Keydial, I was excited to finally test run another large screen.
The problem was that once I started to dig a little deeper into their specifications, I was a tiny bit disappointed. Although the Kamvas’s panel is 21.5 inches in size, the resolution is only 1080p, which for a smaller 15-inch screen for example, is fine, but with a screen of this size I was concerned about the UI feeling stretched and everything looking more pixelated.
I’d also read about issues with colour calibration and people suffering from driver problems, so my initial excitement was soon dampened.
However, now I’ve spent a few weeks working with them am I still disappointed, or could this pair be the perfect combination of scale and usability for those on a budget?
Read on to find out…
Unboxing
There are two versions of the Kamvas 22, the normal one and the Plus. As you would expect, with the Plus you get some enhanced features like a QLED panel as well as 140% sRGB Gamut, just some of the details which are clearly displayed on the front and side of the box.
Upon opening the box, the first thing you’re presented with is the adjustable stand and I’m impressed that Huion have included it. The Kamvas 22 doesn’t have a built in stand or fold out legs, so a stand is essential, especially with a tablet of this size.
Beneath this we have the instructions and a handy cleaning cloth so you can keep the screen crisp and clear.
We then get to the star of the show, the tablet itself, and I was surprised by just how light, sturdy and well-built the Kamvas 22 Plus felt.
Next, we have the box of accessories which include the all-important stylus and its stand, which doubles as a holder for the extra nibs. You also get a USB-C to USB-C cable, something which isn’t included with the standard Kamvas 22.
Buried deeper in the box are the main three in one cable and a power adapter plus, taped to the lid to save you hunting around for them, you will find the screws needed to attach the stand to the rear of the tablet.
Last but in no way least, you are also given a smudge guard which is another nice bonus.
The Mini Keydial comes in a much more modest box with all the information displayed on the back.
Inside is the device which also feels solid and light and gives you eighteen buttons plus a dial which you can fully configure to suit your working style.
This also comes with a charging cable plus a dongle, which you need to be able to connect it to your computer.
Setup
I always find devices that come with a three in one cable, power adapter and another USB-C cable confusing, and the ones supplied with the Kamvas 22 Plus are no different.
The three in one cable has a HDMI and a USB Type A plug which go into your laptop or desktop. There’s another cable which connects to the power supply and at the opposite end you have a USB-C plug which connects to the display; however, you need to make sure you use the right port, or it will not work. You need to plug this into the port closest to the USB-3 port on the Kamvas 22 Plus.
If your laptop doesn’t have a HDMI port or you’re using an Android device, you can use the additional USB-C cable which then connects from the Kamvas 22 Plus to that device.
I chose to use the first option with my laptop, but I found the chunky cables often got in my way, plus they used up the only HDMI port I had. I did try the second option too, so used the additional USB-C cable instead, but this presented other issues.
First, the cable is quite short so if you’re using a desktop PC you might find it won’t reach under the desk. I was also concerned about the unused HDMI and USB ends which were either dangling behind my desk or just sat on the floor where they could easily be damaged.
Ideally Huion need a simpler solution. A power pack which powers the display, as you always need power, and then two additional cables to choose from. A HDMI and USB cable with a USB-C end which goes into the device, and a separate USB-C cable, so the user can use one and the other can be safely stored away.
Anyway, once up and running with your chosen configuration, you download the drivers from the Huion website, install them and you are good to go. The pen tablet software will detect the pen display and open the available options for you.
With the Mini Keydial you need to insert the USB dongle either into your computer or the Kamvas 22 Plus. You can then hold down the button on the side to turn it on and again, the software will detect it.
As I was using a Windows PC I then needed to set it up to extend my display across to the Kamvas and also update the working area in the Huion tablet software too.
Its important to point out that, as mentioned earlier, you can also connect the Kamvas 22 and 22 Plus to an Android smartphone or tablet. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to either so was unable to test this option.
The Tablet
The Kamvas 22 Plus is quite minimalist with its design. There are no buttons on the surface, instead you have just five running along the top, a power button plus four for navigating the displays menu which has the standard options you would expect from any monitor.
In the back you have the panel where you fit the stand and along the bottom are two large rubber feet which help to prevent the tablet from slipping.
Down the right side are two USB-C and one USB-3 port. So as far as connections and buttons go, it is stripped down to the bare minimum.
I used the USB-3 for the Mini Keydial dongle whereas the two USB-C ports have specific uses. As mentioned earlier, the first is purely for when using the three in one cable as this provides the power, so again, if you find that the display isn’t working, make sure you have it connected to the correct one.
When on, I found the screen to be bright, crisp and clear. You can see the quantum-dot technology at work and the 140% sRGB colour gamut and 1200:1 contrast ratio help to make your work pop.
As nice as the display is, my initial reservations of it only being 1080p were unfortunately confirmed. While working in Photoshop the UI was much larger than I would like, with no real option to scale it back. Plus, everything was more pixelated, so I felt I had to zoom in more than I am used to when working to see the details.
The screen resolution from my laptop display is much smoother
The screen resolution from the Kamvas 22 display has harder more pixelated edges
This is a personal preference though as I’m used to working on a higher resolution display, so if you’re new to a pen display tablet, you may not even notice issues like this.
Out of the box, the displays colour calibration wasn’t ideal as there was a noticeable difference between it and my other monitors. This wasn’t a major concern though as I could easily adjust the various settings in the on-screen menu to tweak it, so it was closer to my other displays. Plus if you aren’t too confident in adjusting these settings yourself, there are many users online who are posting their own recommended configurations so you can easily find something to dial in to improve the colours.
The Stylus
Bundled with the Kamvas 22 Plus is Huions latest pen which comes with their Pentech 3.0 technology.
This is said to improve stability while bringing you closer to the canvas by reducing parallax, which I can confirm. I compared it to my own Cintiq and could see the tip of the pen was closer to the screen.
The pen offers 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, which is the standard now for devices like this, plus over 60 degrees of tilt recognition which is good for shading. Another bonus is that the pen uses Electromagnetic Resonance technology rather than relying on a battery to power it, which is always a bonus. The last thing you need is to be desperately hunting around for a battery while you are in the zone.
The pen is comfortable to hold with its rubber grip, and there are two configurable buttons within reach of your fingers.
The overall design is similar to other brands, but this isn’t a bad thing. If it works, it works!
The Mini Keydial
Along with the Kamvas 22 Plus, Huion also sent the Mini Keydial which is a separate accessory that costs around £45, but it gives you a whole host of extra buttons plus a dial to use as you work. These are all fully configurable so you can set them up however you like to make you more productive.
It has a single power button on the side and a USB-C port in the top which is used for charging. On the back are four rubber feet which help to keep the Keydial locked in place. You can even sit it on the screen as you work and if at the right angle, it won’t slip down.
The Keydial is wireless so will need to be charged, plus you must use the dongle, which is included in the box, as it won’t connect with traditional Bluetooth.
The mini Keydial more than makes up for the lack of any buttons on the Kamvas 22 Plus, something many artists need access to when working. Yes, there are two buttons on the pen, but you often need more, and it’s not always easy to have your keyboard close by, especially with a tablet of this size.
For example, I use the standard Alt, Shift and Control keys plus the space bar as I work my way around the canvas and the dial makes it easy to quickly adjust the brush size, so to be honest, even if it had half the number of keys, I’d be happy.
The only issue I found was remembering what each key did, so I found that I ended up using the bottom row most of the time. You can have one of the buttons setup so it gives you a quick preview of the current layout though, which was extremely helpful.
The Stand
I do love it when you spend your hard-earned money on a device like the Kamvas 22 Plus and you get sensible accessories included in the box, like the stand. It’s something you do need with a pen display of this size so it’s great that you don’t have to buy it separately.
It’s easy enough to attach to the back of the display, although don’t do what I did and put it on the wrong way around.
The mechanical design allows you to sit and work with the Kamvas at angels ranging from 20 to 80 degrees and what’s more, it’s easy to reach over the top and quickly adjust it when needed.
I like the fact it has this wide range of angles rather than a set few, it makes it much more flexible than the more basic stands which just have a panel that folds out, and only offers you three set angles to choose from.
Configuration
I’m pleased to say that during my time using the devices, I didn’t suffer from any driver issues. The software worked seamlessly and configuring the Kamvas and Keydial was easy.
What I like about the Huion Tablet software is just how simple it is. Its straight to the point with no added extras or complicated menus to navigate.
Because the Kamvas 22 Plus doesn’t have any buttons or dials all you can really configure is the working area, which is essential if you need it to be a second monitor rather than a duplicate of the main screen.
The Keydial is a different story. Each button can be assigned a wide number of actions like a specific keystroke, mouse button or even opening another application.
You can even setup a custom quick menu which will pop up and give you access to six frequently used actions.
The button in the middle of the dial is used to cycle through three different options, so by default you can use it to zoom, adjust the brush size or scroll up and down the page.
There are two buttons on the pen which you can configure with lots of options available, more than available with the mini Keydial. You can also adjust the pressure curve too, to make the pen feel harder or softer.
All these options can also be configured on a per-application basis, so you can have it setup differently when working in Photoshop compared to a 3D application like Autodesk Maya for example.
The Tablet & Mini Keydial in Use
As with all my reviews, I like to take my time and create a full piece of artwork before I offer my opinions on the device. It takes longer but I get a good idea of how the tablet will perform over time.
The first conclusion I came to was that you do need the Mini Keydial, especially if you’re using this with a laptop as I was. You might get away without it though if you have a separate keyboard close by, but I found having the buttons and dial extremely useful.
What I did find slightly frustrating with the Keydial was that when I wanted to use the dial, the bottom of my palm would end up resting on the lower row of keys which resulted its lots of errors and me having to undo more than I wanted.
I also had some minor issues with lag, and the cursor drifting away from the stylus as I moved to the edges of the screen which wasn’t ideal, especially when trying to select tools in Photoshop.
With that said, once I got used to using the Mini Keydial and navigating the more restricted resolution, I really enjoyed working on it.
The pen pressure came through well from the stylus and there was enough friction on the screen that it gave me some nice feedback as I painted.
I would say that when using the device, it felt very close to the Cintiq 24 Pro I currently use, but, dare I say it, with a much clearer and brighter screen. In fact, if it had a 4K display and touch screen support, I’d be very tempted to move over to the Kamvas 22 Pro permanently.
Should You Invest?
There are two things that would hold me, personally back from buying this tablet and that’s the low screen resolution and lack of touch support. For the price though, which is around £500 at the time of writing, or £550 with the Mini Keydial, these are a fair trade off especially when you’re getting a 22-inch screen to work on. When you compare it to Wacoms own Cintiq 22, its specifications are very similar but is a whopping £400 cheaper!
Unless you’re looking for something more portable, I would always recommend going for the largest screen you can afford. You get more of a sense of freedom when working on a larger area and to be honest, if it was a choice between the Kamvas 22 Plus and a smaller device, like the Kamvas Pro 13 which has a 2.5k resolution screen, I would go for the 22 Plus.
If £500 is outside of your budget you could go for the cheaper Kamvas 22, which is currently around £400. The differences are mainly with the screen, the Plus has Quantum Dot technology which gives you a higher sRGB Colour Gamut plus it has full screen lamination which helps to reduce parallax, and you get the extra USB-C cable. I haven’t had the opportunity to see them side by side, but I would recommend going for the better screen if you can stretch yourself.
If, like me, you need that higher resolution to make the most of the screen size, you could cast your gaze to the Kamvas Pro 24 with its 4K UHD, QLED, HDR screen. That’s a lot of acronyms and an even higher price tag of £1,299 for them.
So back to the 22 Plus and Mini Keydial, at £550 you can forgive the minor issues with the screen resolution and lag, so if you’re looking for a budget pen display setup with a larger working area and host of configuration options, I’d recommend it.
And if it is outside your budget, keep an eye on Huions social media as they frequently have sales 😉
Although Huion supplied the Kamvas 22 Plus and Mini Keydial for me to test, the opinions offered in this review are my own.