Hoping to ride the wave of this holiday's soaring tablet sales, Archos has announced a new slate (PDF) that aims to differentiate itself by offering a larger-than-average touchscreen. While major competitors like Apple, Google and Amazon are focusing on the 7 to 10-inch space, Archos' latest offering packs a 13.3-inch 10-point multitouch display.

That extra space, according to Archos, makes the device more suitable for family-oriented activities than smaller solutions. The company envisions kids and parents gathering around the FamilyPad to play digital board games, view and share pictures, watch movies and whatever else a group of people can do with an oversized tablet. With a steely Baghdad Bob-esque resolve, Archos says those activities will make its device "the must have family companion this holiday season."

Besides its 13.3-inch 1280x800 screen, the FamilyPad is fairly typical as far as lower-end Android slates go. Specs include a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of  integrated flash memory that's expandable with a micro SDHC slot that supports up to 32GB cards, 2MP cameras in the front and back, Wi-Fi, HDMI-out, a USB 2.0 port and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The FamilyPad measures 262 x 171 x 12.5mm, weighs 1.3kg and offers up to 10 hours of video playback. Availability will initially be limited to the UK, where the device is expected to hit shelves for £274.99 (around $438) sometime next month. We'd expect it to reach other European markets shortly thereafter, but there's no word on North American pricing or availability.