Android MegaPad: a kitchen-built 23-inch Android 'tablet' for under $600

In September 2011 Martin Drashkov published 'Android MegaPad - 23" Android Tablet for $600', a prototype he had been hacking on for a few weeks. His argument was sequential: Apple brought touch computing to the mainstream with the iPhone in 2007 and showed what a new screen size could do with the iPad in 2010, so a large-format touch device was the next logical step — one that would make two-user use practical and let people immerse themselves in apps and games.

The unusual part was how the prototype was made. Drashkov built it from off-the-shelf components in his kitchen for less than $600, using Android because its openness and flexibility made it the only modern touch-based OS that could be adapted beyond what was currently on the market. The device was not portable; its value was demonstrating the size itself.

He filmed a demo showing two apps written for phones and tablets — including Fruit Ninja — running on the 23-inch touch screen and posted it with a promise of technical details to come. The reaction split: some commenters called the video fake, while others asked where to get the parts, wanted to know when he would sell it, and proposed real-world uses from factory drawings and architects' plans to wall-mounted family calendars.

The post drew 160 points and 55 comments on Hacker News and 28 comments on the blog; readers said they would pay $600 for the device, and a recruiter from a Singapore headhunting firm contacted Drashkov. No production run or technical write-up is documented in the post itself, but a 2018 comment shows later DIY builders still landing on the page while attempting their own 23-inch Android tablets.