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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/the-curious-rise-of-giant-tablets-on-wheels/ [arstechnica.com]

Over the past few years, LG has set off a strange tech trend that’s been rolling onto devices sold across Amazon and other online electronics retailers.

In 2022, the company launched the StanbyME [lg.com], which is essentially a $1,000 27-inch tablet running LG's smart TV operating system (OS), webOS, but lacking a tuner.
[...]
Today, the StanbyME competes against a slew of similar devices, including some from Samsung [koreaherald.com], but mostly from smaller brands and running Android.

I've had one of these devices, the KTC MegPad 32-inch Android Tablet (A32Q7 Pro) [ktcplay.com], rolling around my home for a few weeks, and I'm left curious about what's driving the growth of StanbyME-like devices, which are noticeably niche and expensive.
[...]
Unlike LG’s StanbyME, KTC’s device doesn’t run a smart TV OS. Instead, it’s a 32-inch Android 13 tablet. Still, KTC heavily markets the MegPad’s ability to serve as streaming hardware, and that’s one of the best uses I found for it.
[...]
The MegPad is also a diplomatic solution for homes with limited TVs or computers. This could be helpful for homes with kids with varied interests or in my home, where a speedy, 55-inch TV in the living room is the best screen available by far. I was able to let my partner take the big screen for gaming and still hang out nearby while streaming on the MegPad.
[...]
Compared to the TV mounted on my living room wall, the MegPad is much easier to move from room to room, but it’s easy to overestimate how seamless transporting it is. Yes, it's on a set of five 360-degree wheels, but the wheels don't lock, and the device weighs 40.3 pounds, per its Amazon listing [amazon.com].
[...]
A fully rotating screen, however, makes up for some of my mobility complaints and diversifies the MegPad's potential uses. Besides streaming, for example, the MegPad was great for watching yoga videos online, (which calls for viewing the screen from different heights and positions). It also proved to be an ideal setup for creating a large, print-out collage, which included a lot of dragging, dropping, and cropping of images.
[...]
Further, the MegPad, like many StanbyME-like devices, uses Android 13, which doesn't require paying vendor licensing fees like built-for smart TV OSes, such as Android TV/Google TV and webOS, would. There are some benefits to that, though.

To start, Android 13 doesn’t have the integrated ads that Android TV or the Google TV interface does. Google claims that the Google TV platform doesn’t use automatic content recognition (ACR), but as Consumer Reports [consumerreports.org] has noted, Google collects “data from TVs that use its smart TV platform—and there’s no opting out of Google’s policies during setup if you want smart TV functionality.”
[...]
Further differing from LG's StanbyME and real TVs, the MegPad doesn't include a traditional remote. The tablet comes with a basic Bluetooth mouse, but due to the tablet's portability, I frequently used the tablet without a flat surface within arm’s reach available for comfortable mouse control. The touchscreen is reliable, but gestures can be cumbersome on a tablet this large, and the display was often out of my hand’s reach.
[...]
devices like the MegPad and Amazon's Echo Show [arstechnica.com] have become the new de facto stand-ins for portable TVs, even though they're not true TV sets. Even LG's StanbyME Go [arstechnica.com], a 27-inch webOS-powered display packed into a briefcase, is a far cry from what most of us would traditionally consider a portable TV.
[...]
KTC also sees the MegPad's appeal as a pseudo-TV. The MegPad's product page emphasizes users' ability to "watch favorite shows/movies directly—no PC needed" and to "stream Netflix [and] YouTube... more effortlessly on your smart TV." Its Amazon product page also promotes the keywords "portable TV," "rolling TV," "mobile TV," and "standing TV." This is all despite the MegPad not technically being a true TV.
[...]
I’ve been fascinated by the MegPad and similar devices because they introduce a unique approach to streaming, web browsing, and productivity. But ultimately, they’re hard to recommend when there are other personal gadgets that are more affordable and often take up less space.
[...]
Overall, the growing presence of devices like the MegPad underscores a confluence occurring between smart TVs, tablets, monitors, and smart displays. With software being forced into more types of displays, often in the interest of gathering more user data, it’s an interesting time to consider what you want from your next screen—be it computing power, a certain size, the omission or inclusion of web connectivity, and mobility.
[...]
Three years after LG made TV-esque devices on wheels a talking point, more brands are trying to roll into the market. That includes LG’s best TV frenemy, Samsung [arstechnica.com], which has been using the form factor in limited geographies to drive sales of “smart monitors." [businesskorea.co.kr]

Tech brands have ulterior motives for pushing this newer form factor that go beyond filling a gap in consumer gadgets. But if a large tablet or small smart display with wheels fits your needs, the options are there, and they should meet most expectations.

Original Submission