For a traveling artist who is very much tied to his laptop, Samsung’s Second Screen feature gives me another level of versality by turning my Galaxy Tab into a drawing display tablet. Of course, I can use the tablet completely standalone for drawing and painting too. There are some great apps for Android out there. But I tend to switch modes a lot. In one moment, I just need the extra extended screen for general productivity. My Galaxy Tab can serve both modes. But can Samsung Second Screen really replace your standard drawing display like a Wacom One for example? Let’s take a look.
How does it work
Samsung’s Second Screen uses wireless display casting and lets you duplicate or extend your computer display over to the Galaxy Tab. The quality of this connection might vary depending on your computer’s wireless hardware, and for some people, it might only work well as a second screen and not a responsive drawing tablet.
Requirements for Second Screen
Second Screen feature is available for Galaxy Tab S series S7 and above. The tablet must be running One UI 3.1 or later. This also only works for Windows (10 and 11) machines that support Miracast or wireless display.
How to run Samsung Second Screen with your computer
- Make sure WiFI is enabled on both of your devices
- Press Windows key + K to cast and extend
- activate second screen on tablet by bringing down the control panel and selecting the option
- make sure input from screen is enabled otherwise wont be able to draw- For a touch device like the Galaxy Tab, you will be able to set the computer to receive or reject pen and touch input from it.
If the resolution is limited and does not use your full tablet display, try installing the Second Screen application from the Microsoft store. This gave me a 1920 x 1200 resolution that matches my laptop display.
Use Samsung Second Screen for drawing
For reference, I’m using the Galaxy Tab S9FE together with a Windows 11 gaming laptop to test Second Screen here. If you are considering getting yourself a Samsung tablet, I have a review of the Galaxy Tab S9FE as well.
The main test – Clip Studio Paint
I found the pressure response of Second Screen in Clip Studio Paint to be very good. I’m able to get thick and thin lines quite easily. However, the wireless connection does cause occasional stuttering on my lines. Sometimes they would be straight instead of curved, and with fast lines, my stroke would not always appear right away.
There was some shoestringing effect on my lines at times too. So overall, not the smoothest, but I can work with it.
Touch gestures generally work well too for navigation, double-tap to undo, etc.
Of course it’s very small, but this device gives you the versatility of both fully portable/standalone, plus being able to use it fir your desktop drawing apps. Going with the larger FE+ model would definitely be better for PC use
Other digital art apps
Krita
Krita works with Second Screen but make sure that you disable the touch painting setting. This prevents a lot of accidental touches and unwanted marks while drawing.
Rebelle 7
I spent a bit more time painting in Rebelle 7 Pro. While doing line work in CSP wasn’t ideal, painting is a bit more forgiving. It actually wasn’t as bad as I expected painting in Rebelle with Second Screen. I would get some stuttering of brush strokes, but this didn’t impact the piece I was building up.
Blender
It is possible to use Blender with Samsung Second Screen but I do not recommend it. As with line work, precision and smooth response is important here. The other reason is due to the lack of being able to use the pen button which would be useful for adjusting your viewing angle and moving around your objects.
Samsung Second Screen Versus Easy Canvas
While Samsung Second Screen is okay for basic tasks, I’m more likely to use EasyCanvas for drawing. The option of a cabled connection will mean a consistently smoother experience for most people. As a quick comparison:
Second screen
- wireless-only display;
- it’s free/built-in;
- limited resolution;
- better cursor tracking;
- only wireless connection.
Easy Canvas on the other hand…
- wired and wireless connectivity;
- adjustable pressure curve;
- custom shortcut bar;
- uses full screen resolution;
- $10 once-off payment.
Does a Galaxy Tab and Second Screen replace a Wacom tablet?
To this I say no. Wireless drawing like this just isn’t going to give the stable and reliable performance you’d want for longer sessions of drawing and painting. That said, together with an app like EasyCanvas that allows for a cabled connection, there is more reason to recommend something like a Galaxy Tab to artists who need the portability of a standalone device, but also want to draw on computer.
Some other things to note
Your tablet also reads as an audio output
After connecting your tablet, you might lose audio from your speakers. This is because the audio can also be projected to your tablet and it might have automatically been set as the output. Check your sound settings to make sure your output device is set correctly.
You must enable pen and touch input
When casting from your windows machine, make sure that you enable your computer to receive pen and touch input from the tablet. Use Windows+K to open the display casting screen and find the checkbox under the Galaxy Tab.
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