The tablet that's big enough to share with the whole family

Ideum has built a 46-inch Android tablet that doubles as a coffee table and that can respond to 60 touches simultaneously.

Ideum has built a 46-inch Android tablet that doubles as a coffee table and that can respond to 60 touches simultaneously.

Unveiled on Wednesday by Ideum and 3M at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, the supersized slate boasts a full HD display and has a 64-bit Intel processor running the whole show so it's as fast and responsive as it is big.

Prospective owners will be happy to hear that the screen has been sufficiently strengthened to take the weight of glasses, cups and serving bowls and that the whole thing is sufficiently water resistant to survive accidental spills.

In terms of storage, it has 500GB on board and has all of the wireless connections, from wifi to Bluetooth, in order to connect to other devices and peripherals.

Out of the rather sizable box, it runs version 4.1 of Android, meaning that pretty much anything in the Google Play store will work on the device.

However, because it uses 3M's multitouch technology, designed to support multiple users simultaneously, there is scope for a host of more interactive multi-user apps or multi-player games too.

The Platform Multitouch Coffee Table will cost $7,000 when it goes on sale later this year and while it's aimed primarily at coffee shop owners and hoteliers, there's no reason why it can't take pride of place in anyone's living room.

If Android isn't your thing, the company already offers a version that runs Windows 8.1 instead.