Ok Google, tell me are you excited to receiving your Panda soon then?
You'll have fun with the Home Mini redemption through CPW... mate's still arguing with them over redemption on his. They're now pointing fingers at Google for the drag on, and he's used
this page on their site (particularly the last line of text) to keep them on their toes. Still no Mini Home.
Have to say the Home is pretty damn sweet though, overall.
Chuffed to bits with the Pixel 2 Kinda Blue as well.
Glad you are enjoying the Pixel 2 Kinda Blue and the Mini Home. I am excited about receiving my Panda 2 XL and what Google will be able to do with this phone to infuse artificial intelligence and artificial reality and so much more. I have enjoyed the year with the Pixel XL and I know the wife will be happy to replace her Nexus 6 with my soon-to-be old Pixel XL.
You say "Have to say the Home is pretty damn sweet though, overall." I have 3 original Google Home units in various parts of the house that I use to control music, podcasts, casting, smart lights, Nest Thermostat control, etc and am looking always at ways to add features. Recently I added the smart kettle to boil water remotely and looking forward to integrating Home with Google Hello, their video doorbell due to be released early next year.
I know some here think I am overly-enthused about what Google can do, but still I am surprised that you seem surprised with your new Home Mini----specifically, at the AI and general smarts built into Home. I truly understand the delight of a first time user. I still to this day remember the "aha" moment I had when some 4 or 5 years ago, I strapped on Google Glass when biking around London and having the directions to my destination appear in real time on my Glass screen and a voice in my ear telling me to anticipate turning right in 20 metres. Very little surprises me about what Google is able to accomplish.
After all, we are talking about the company that has launched the first truly self-driving-vehicle (SDV) to operate on public roads without a driver in the front seat ready to take over if a problem develops. After 8 years of testing, its self driving car unit, Waymo, is sufficiently confident that it has mastered the SDV in the somewhat controlled environment of Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, on public roads at normal driving speeds. The amount of money, time and expertise in software, hardware, deep learning applied to a neural network that Google has mastered here is truly historic. Today their SDV operates in a 100 square mile radius of Chandler but soon will operate in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan area, which incidentally is the same size as Greater London (of course without the density of population and complexity of road networks).
So as not to downplay your excitement about the AI built into Home, their accomplishment with the SDV in Chandler rather puts that Google Home unit achievement in some perspective. Check out the video if you have not already seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaOB-ErYq6Y
