The One by Wacom Creative Pen Tablet is advertised as being a tool for students and beginning artists. It has many great capabilities for collaborating, writing, drawing, and painting. There are apps specifically tailored for education that work with the One by Wacom which look very interesting.

For our purposes here, it was used strictly as a photo editing tool.

Editorā€™s note: Wacom sent us the One by Wacom to review and keep; however, all opinions about this product are our own. We have not been told what to say. We tell you this as we always want to be upfront and honest with you.

Pros

  • Simple and straightforward to use
  • Lightweight
  • Uncomplicated
  • Battery-free pen
  • Right or left-handed use

Cons

  • Wired ā€” not Bluetooth compatible
  • USB-A connection, not USB-C
  • Could use more in-depth instructions or how-to videos
  • Instructions were confusing

One by Wacom ā€” Technical specifications

One by Wacom

All technical specifications for One by Wacom have been taken from Wacom.com:

  • Small: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.3″ / 210 x 146 / 8.7mm
  • Active area on small: 6.0 x 3.7″ / 152 x 95mm
  • Medium: 10.9 x 7.4 x 0.3″ / 277 x 189 x 8.7mm
  • Active area on medium: 8.5 x 5.3″ / 215 x 135mm
  • Weight small tablet: 250g
  • Weight medium tablet: 432g
  • Pen weight: 9g
  • Color: Front – Black, Back – Red
  • Electromagnetic resonance method
  • Resolution: 2540 lpi
  • 2048 pen pressure levels
One by Wacom

One by Wacom ā€” Using for photo editing

If you’re looking for all the bells and whistles that come with the other Wacom Pen Displays and Pen Tablets, this isn’t it.

Personally, I found it simple to use for the minimal amount of editing I tend to do using Lightroom Classic and a few plug-ins. Of course, it takes a bit of time to get used to doing things differently. Getting your feel for the way around, where your cursor is and how much pressure to use will happen with use, like anything.

Making selections and using the brush mask was very easy and obviously a bit more precise than using the trackpad on my MacBook Pro.

My instinct to move the pointer across the screen though was to touch the pen to the tablet and move as I would my finger on the touchpad. This doesn’t work, and likely if you already use a Wacom table you know this. It felt a bit odd to me to just float the pen above the tablet to move to a location on the screen where I wanted to do something with the pen, click or drag, etc. So, until I get that in my head, I’ll be accidentally clicking on things I don’t want, zooming accidentally and choosing items I didn’t mean to.

The pen has a natural feeling in my hand. It’s not too heavy or too light and is comfortable to hold. You can customize the two buttons on the pen to best work with your workflow.

One by Wacom ā€” Uncomplicated and basic

One by Wacom

While my experience with the One by Wacom is strictly for photo editing, I think it would be a great tool for learning other artistic methods. I don’t think experienced photo editors will find that it has enough functionality for what they do.

If you’re just starting to learn how to edit images, this will be a great addition to help you step up your game. You’ll likely find it more natural than using a mouse or touchpad.