BUILD 2011 | Microsoft gives away Samsung Windows 8 tablet/PC

Rumors about a Samsung Windows 8 tablet have been plentiful this past month, and while no quad-core device has emerged, the rumors have proved true for the most part. The joint Microsoft-Samsung tablet was indeed given away at the BUILD 2011 conference, but the device turned out to be none other than the Samsung Series 7 Slate.

At the BUILD conference today in Anaheim, Microsoft announced that they would be passing out a Windows 8 equipped version of Samsung’s Series 7 slate to the developers in attendance. The device comes pre-loaded with a dev version of Windows 8, and includes extra sensors and NFC (Near Field Communications) technology. Announced back at IFA Berlin, the Series 7 Slate comes with a dual-core 1.6GHz Core i5 CPU, an 11.6” display, and was seen running Windows 7. However, the 5,000 devices handed out today are indeed running Windows 8, and AT&T has also graciously thrown in 2GB of data per month for a year.

Interestingly, Microsoft is adamantly refusing to call the device anything besides a “PC”, even though the Windows 7 variant is happily dubbed a tablet. This naming appears to be a result of the ideology behind Windows 8, as Microsoft is hoping to unite the OS on tablets, notebooks and desktops alike. Either way, we doubt the folks in attendance in Anaheim today are worrying about the tablet’s naming, and hopefully a multitude of apps utilizing the latest OS are born as a result.

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