Touring Google's Crazy MWC Booth

Just like last year at Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona, Google's booth is a playground. The search behemoth behind the Android mobile operating system is using its share of expensive tradeshow floor square footage as a place for OS and app developers along with enthusiasts to hang out, do business, get nourished, and have fun. More importantly, the company is showing off its dominance as the unquestionable number-one smartphone operating system provider. (For now, at least, of course.)

Google is all over the place here at MWC. There have been dozens of Android phones released in the last two days alone including handsets from HTC, LG, Samsung, and ZTE. Our Mobile World Congress Page has even more, along with scores of Android tablets, and we're not even halfway through MWC, which wraps on Thursday. Here at the show, the company's senior vice president of mobile, Andy Rubin tweeted that Android activations have topped 850,000 per day. To say that Google is dominant at MWC is an understatement.

All by itself at the end of Hall 8 in the Fira de Barcelona convention center, Google's booth has dozens of stands where Android app developers show their wares, but there are some other non-traditional trade show booth elements including bedazzling robots, an Ice Cream Sandwich-centric snack bar, a conveyor belt rotating an endless supply of Android phones, fun claw machines stuffed with cuddly Androids, and a whimsical two-story slide, for instance. Check out our slideshow to take a visual tour of Google's wacky, but impressive, MWC booth.

Greetings From the Android Slide

Bow to the Android. The Android welcomes you, with a free slide down from the second story of the Google booth. Just like at a carnival, you can collect a photo of you looking silly as you go down the slide, at the end.

Android Bedazzling Robot

One of the showpieces of the booth is an industrial robot, who slowly bedazzles cases for Galaxy Nexus phones. The wait list for a custom case was long enough that the robot will be working 24/7, Google rep said. And, yes, the robot runs on Android.

Android Bedazzled Cases

Want a custom Galaxy Nexus back made by an Android-powered robot? These are your choices. It’s just one day’s wait!

Android Robot Lays It Down

The Android bedazzling robot, hard at work: I discovered that some of the British staffers at the Android booth don’t know the word "bedazzling," which is clearly American English.

Android Snacks and Smoothies

Hungry? Google has you covered, but I feel like the smoothies have been better. Last year, Google had smoothies flavored like Eclairs, Gingerbread and Honeycomb–all versions of Android. This year, the predominance of Ice Cream Sandwich at the Android booth has led to other flavors, which aren’t necessarily tie-ins.

Android Bartender

This fellow was serving up the Android smoothies at the Google booth. He told me all the actual ice cream sandwiches were melted, so I had to go away hungry.

Android Conveyor Belt

Back for the second year, the rolling conveyor belt holds an endless march of Android phones, while text on the wall behind it chronicles the rise of Android since 2008. The conveyor belt even includes some more obscure Android phones, models that were only released in China or Japan.

Android Demo Stations

Several Android phone vendors had demo stations in the booth, including Huawei, Sony, ZTE, LG, and Samsung. Some phones, such as ZTE’s flagship quad-core device, were available to play with in Google’s booth when they couldn’t power on at their manufacturer’s booth!

Android Graffiti Area

This niche was devoted to the idea of using Android tablets as music players. Can you feel the beat, DJ? Can you feel it?

Android Claw Machine

Deep within the nightclub-like music playing area, there’s this claw machine where you can try your luck at getting a cuddly stuffed Android! There’s another claw machine at the other end of the booth space. It doesn’t look like it, but there’s a long line for these claw machines.

Android Meeting

Up on the second floor of the booth, there are comfy couches where Android developers and their friends can have meetings. Each table has a phone clipped to it.

Second Floor Overview

Looking down from the second floor you see some of the app developer areas. Those Androids with hats each signify a different app category, which is being demoed in that space.

Android Design Wall

This one baffled me; it’s a wall of strangely textured objects, some rough, some furry, some bouncy. The theme seemed to have to do with the materials Android phones are made of. That guy is touching the screen, but nothing in this part of the booth seemed to be a touch screen.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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