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Microsoft Gives Away 5000 Samsung Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft’s hotly anticipated BUILD conference kicked off yesterday, with a developer version of Windows 8 being announced and demonstrated for all to see.

Microsoft wants to encourage developers to start playing around with Windows 8 and developing applications for it, so they decided to give out some Samsung-built Tablet computers which run on a developer build of Windows 8.

We reported last week that Samsung were rumoured to be building a tablet for Microsoft to use with Windows 8, and that is exactly what was going on. Samsung has built an 11.6-inch Windows 8 tablet for Microsoft to give away to each attendee of their BUILD conference – around 5000 people.

How generous of Microsoft! The tablet features an 11.6-inch ‘Super PLS’ screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The screen is capable of touchpen support, which will work similarly to the capacitive stylus used with the HTC Flyer. Processing power comes from a Dual-Core Intel Core i5 processor running at 1.6GHz.

The tablet also contains a gyroscope, compass, GPS and NFC for tap-to-share connectivity. Microsoft also bundled in a 3G modem with the U.S network AT&T which entitles the lucky owner to 2GB of mobile data per month for the next year.

Most importantly is the new operating system. The tablet runs a fairly basic 64-bit developer version of Windows 8. As the software build is fairly early, programs like Outlook, Office and Calendars are missing. Internet Explorer is present and working, as are some desktop widgets and an RSS reader.

We’re wondering if any of the 5000 Samsung tablets will turn up on eBay in the near future.

Let us know what you think of Windows 8 so far by tweeting us @Gadget_Helpline.