Ever since I turned 21, it has all been about free booze…
Now I’m not an alcoholic, I just enjoy my alcohol. And at San Diego Comic Con there are always great places to score some free drinks and some awesome swag. One of the best places this year was the Samsung Galaxy Experience. Samsung really upped the ante and if you were a Galaxy owner then by golly did you get an awesome take away gift.
On the last day of Comic Con and our friend Dezi and I were roaming around after the Godzilla Experience (which by the way was freaking’ amazing!) and saw something Samsung going on.
There was a long line but I learned that line was for t-shirts. The t-shirts were really nifty because you could choose what you wanted on the t-shirt. As long as the image was on Google Image Search, then you could have it printed on your shirt. I already acquired enough t-shirts this Comic-Con so I didn’t need anymore (seriously, I got 11+ t-shirts).
Dezi and I walked up to the line to get into the actual experience and that line took less than ten minutes. They checked ID’s and gave you a wristband (which I still have on). Once you walk in you’re staring at a wall of Samsung Galaxy’s….literally a whole wall of phones playing all sorts of different movies and cycling through pictures. It was like walking into a futuristic store with it’s white furniture and blue ambient lighting. It was fantastic! Anyway, Dezi and I made our way around and saw that there were Samsung tablets and phones for you to play on.
There were also different “booths” that showcased the different features on the Samsung phones. One booth was .gif making using the phone. A person would put on a cape, go against a sky background and hold a pose. The fan would blow your cape and a .gif would be captured via the phone. So you got to play the superhero and have that .gif sent to you.
There was also a booth were you dressed up in all sorts of superhero or villain costumes and run across a stage doing action poses. Each pose would be captured via the Samsung phone using action shot. Then you got printed picture with you going across the stage in various poses. After you got your picture you also got some free Samsung swag (a portable speaker, an earphone splitter and a portable fan).
For the Samsung Galaxy phone owners, you got a free case with a cover. The case also allowed for a personal engraving. So your name could be laser-etched onto the case along with a picture of your liking.
The final thing was the bar. You could choose your drink on the Samsung phone (swiping through various drinks with their recipes). Once you chose your drink, you “bump” it to the bartender and they make your drink. By bump, I mean you hold the phone up to the bartender’s phone and the drink order is transferred between the phones. The bartender then made your drink. The bartender that I bumped my order to….oh my god….those were the strongest drinks I have ever tasted. The Mai Tai that he made me was pretty much 3/4 rum with a splash of fruit juice…did I get buzzed fast? Yes, indeed. They also had cupcakes and nuts. You could order as many drinks as you want, there was no limit.
Conclusion: I hope that Samsung does this again next year. This was by far the best chill out and get free stuff place to go, even more so than the CNet lounge. Samsung really outdid themselves. They effectively promoted their products and treated everyone well (even if you didn’t own a Samsung phone).
English