For today's computers, thin is in. Desktops are dead, laptops are writing their last will and testament. It's all about tablets. The smaller the better. Some folks even think the 10'' iPad is too large. You'd almost think that nobody dreams big anymore. Then you lay your eyes on Martin Drashkov's monstrosity, the MegaPad. The world's first 23'' Android tablet.


 

"The Android MegaPad is then the next logical step - a modern touch-based computing device with with a screen size that will enable a whole different set of experiences. Unlike tablets, devices like this will make simultaneous use by two users a practicality and will let users more fully immerse themselves in apps and games. In the demo video below, you can see two apps that, while written for phones and tablets, nevertheless demonstrate the usefulness of such a device."

Calling it a tablet is a bit deceiving though. The device is not yet portable. Mr. Drashkov claims he built the device for $600, using off-the-shelf parts. That's as much as the "puny" 32gb iPad.

The MegaPad runs a modified version of Android Gingerbread, which was used due to its adaptability. A video shows it running Google Earth and Fruit Ninja quite well. Martin is a fellow member of the Anandtech Forums, so I'm trying to pry some specs out of him. In the mean time, please bathe in the awesomeness that is the MegaPad.


UPDATE: Martin says he used a Pandaboard for this build. The company bills it as a low cost development platform for mobile software. The processor is a 1ghz Texas Intruments OMAP4430 running at 1ghz. It's based on the ARM Cortex A9, similar to the CPU used in the iPad 2. Graphics are fuelled by a PowerVR SGX540, also similar to the iPad 2's. It also features 1gb of DDR2 RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and can handle encoding and decoding of 1080p video.

There's no word on which screen he used, though I'm guessing it's an Acer T231H, as it's the only full HD touch screen monitor Acer currently sells. 

Image copyright Marvel Productions/20th Century FOX