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Big Fun with the Fuhu Nabi Big Tab
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A new big-screen tablet is designed to gather the family around the coffee table for high-tech game nights. But does it work?
The Fuhu Nabi Big Tab, with its huge 24-inch or 20-inch HD display, is designed to be gathered around. We like it and so do our family reviewers. The Big Tab, in essence, reinvents family time using 21st century tablet technology, allowing multiple people—kids and friends, parents, and children—to play games together rather than apart.
Instead of your kids sitting solo, eyes locked on their own handheld devices, the Big Tab brings the group together. It’s made for sharing. Set the Big Tab up in the family room, pick a game and play with your kids on the same screen.
That, as our dad tester points out in our video, creates a physical closeness that’s nice. When he and his boys use the Wii U, each sits separately, maneuvering his own game pad. The Big Tab brings the group together, pulling everyone within touching range of the screen. That ups the togetherness and the fun.
The Big Tab has 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, and a wealth of apps and programs, including shows, stories and games. Remember those classic board games—Chess, Checkers, Hangman, and Tic Tac Toe? You can find them on the Big Tab as well as arcade-like Air Hockey and other kid-friendly games. Although designed for two or more, the Big Tab also features Dream Pro Studio, a suite of drawing, animation, and video apps, geared to one child engagement.
Another nice touch: parental controls. You can limit your kids’ screen time and even set goals such as so many minutes of working through a learning app before being rewarded with more game time.
As the name implies, the Big Tab is large, weighing 14 pounds. The size, combined with the small battery life of about 30-minutes, gives the Big Tab limited portability. You really need to plug it in and set it up on a coffee or dining table.
But it still works well for travel. Take the Big Tab along when you rent a beach house or ski condominium for a week or when you visit grandma for the summer family reunion. There’s nothing like a game of Monkey Boxing or Great White Shark Attack to make fast friends of cousins who see each other only once a year.
In 2016 Fuhu plans to introduce even bigger Big Tabs with screens reaching 40-inches and possibly 65-inches. $499 for the Nabi Big Tab HD 24-inch. www.nabitablet.com
