Hands On: Fuhu's Massive 20-Inch Nabi Big Tab Kids Tablet

With so much potential for entertainment and education, it's no surprise tablets are a hit among kids. And while they make great digital pacifiers for busy parents, there are concerns regarding their effect on developing minds.

Fuhu, a veteran in the world of kids' tablets, is well aware of these questions and thinks it has an answer. The aptly named Nabi Big Tab is a massive Android tablet that is designed to address concerns surrounding the solitary nature of tablet play. We had a chance to go hands on with one of the more peculiar Android devices ever created.

Echoing concerns about rampant smartphone usage, there are those who believe that tablet usage encourages anti-social behavior, especially among the younger generation. The problem, according to Fuhu, is that smaller screens aren't conducive to shared experiences. The answer? A supersized device. With a larger screen, Fuhu believes kids will be able to use it to interact with friends, family, and educators. Instead of being lost in their own digital world, kids can create a digital world with those around them, according to Fuhu. 

The Nabi Big Tab will debut in two sizes, a 20- and 24-inch model, both of which dwarf anything else on the market. They make the 12-inch Galaxy NotePRO seem reasonable, and resemble all-in-one desktops more than anything else. The 20-inch model measures 14.1 by 20.9 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and weighs in at a whopping 10.5 pounds. There's a metal frame and built-in handle and kickstand for toting from room to room and propping the tablet up on flat surfaces. It felt solidly built in my brief hands-on time, and Fuhu has a reputation for hardware that punches above its weight class in terms of quality.

Front and center is a 19.5-inch, 1,600-by-900-pixel capacitive touch screen. It looked like a high-quality panel, with good brightness and wide viewing angles. The larger model comes equipped with a 23.6-inch, 1,920-by-1,080-pixel display. Curiously, the extra-large tablet has a relatively tiny 1,650mAh battery, which lasts for just 30 minutes. Fuhu says this tablet's not meant to be used without a power source, so the battery is there to provide power for when you move from room to room.

The Big Tab is powered by a quad-core 1.6GHz Nvida Tegra 4 SoC with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. That's a pretty potent setup for a kids tablet and should prove useful for gaming. The Big Tab comes with custom Nabi software running atop Android 4.4, with full access to the Google Play store. Parental controls are baked into the tablet, and a parents mode unlocks unfettered tablet functionality. Fuhu also bundles in a ton of educational content and games.

At just $449 for the 20-inch model and $529 for the 24-inch model, the Big Tab is priced in line with normal-sized tablets like the Apple iPad Air, which is an impressive feat. Fuhu expects a release this fall, so check back for a full review once we've put it through its paces.