Free Google Home Mini

People have been raiding this offer for weeks now, with bogus accounts and getting tons of free Home mini devices. I knew it would happen 'cause you know, fucking stupid Humans, but if you look on eBay and craigslist and other things like them (OfferUp, LetGo, etc) you'll see a whole bunch of Home mini devices flooding those platforms nowadays for $20-35 or so - Google currently sells them for $29.99 anyway since they reduced the price in early December to get in on holiday sales.

I got one for myself last week 'cause I was curious and I mean hey, it's $.99 for 3 months of Spotify Premium, I can afford a buck. Got the Home mini several days later (some folks were noting shipping dates well past Christmas so I suppose I got lucky when mine showed up 6 days after I signed up and ordered it), took it out of the box, installed the app on my V20, set it up, played with it for ~15 minutes, boxed it up, uninstalled the app, and it'll stay that way for the future I suppose. I already have a smartphone that can do all that stuff but I don't use Google Assistant at all really.

The audio quality from the Home mini is like, seriously bad. It's audio, sure, and it gets somewhat loud but it distorts quick - the Google Assistant's voice is extremely loud actually and the audio/music volume is much lower even if you bump the volume up. I have a $12 Bluetooth speaker I got last year, a little Omaker camo green thing and it has exceptionally good audio quality from a 2" non-ported speaker by comparison.

But like I said, I boxed up the Home mini, I can find a use for the 5V 1.8A charger it comes with faster than the Home mini itself, go figure. :D
 
Tiberian said:
People have been raiding this offer for weeks now, with bogus accounts and getting tons of free Home mini devices. I knew it would happen 'cause you know, fucking stupid Humans, but if you look on eBay and craigslist and other things like them (OfferUp, LetGo, etc) you'll see a whole bunch of Home mini devices flooding those platforms nowadays for $20-35 or so - Google currently sells them for $29.99 anyway since they reduced the price in early December to get in on holiday sales.

I got one for myself last week 'cause I was curious and I mean hey, it's $.99 for 3 months of Spotify Premium, I can afford a buck. Got the Home mini several days later (some folks were noting shipping dates well past Christmas so I suppose I got lucky when mine showed up 6 days after I signed up and ordered it), took it out of the box, installed the app on my V20, set it up, played with it for ~15 minutes, boxed it up, uninstalled the app, and it'll stay that way for the future I suppose. I already have a smartphone that can do all that stuff but I don't use Google Assistant at all really.

The audio quality from the Home mini is like, seriously bad. It's audio, sure, and it gets somewhat loud but it distorts quick - the Google Assistant's voice is extremely loud actually and the audio/music volume is much lower even if you bump the volume up. I have a $12 Bluetooth speaker I got last year, a little Omaker camo green thing and it has exceptionally good audio quality from a 2" non-ported speaker by comparison.

But like I said, I boxed up the Home mini, I can find a use for the 5V 1.8A charger it comes with faster than the Home mini itself, go figure. :D
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It's not a scam, as far as getting it. I was just passing along information.

Again, if you don't want it, fine. If you get it, fine.

Don't Blame Me.
 
No, no, no, your info isn't the scam, the scam (of sorts) is that people out there are taking advantage of the free off from Google and Spotify and getting a bunch of the Home mini devices specifically to resell them, sometimes in mass quantities. I saw one guy on craigslist a few days ago that claimed to have 3 dozen of 'em and he was selling them for $20 each so, I think of all the BS Spotify accounts he must have created to do it and realize he's just another fucking stupid Human doing something stupid.

You and your post are just fine, that's not the problem. :)
 
Tiberian said:
No, no, no, your info isn't the scam, the scam (of sorts) is that people out there are taking advantage of the free off from Google and Spotify and getting a bunch of the Home mini devices specifically to resell them, sometimes in mass quantities. I saw one guy on craigslist a few days ago that claimed to have 3 dozen of 'em and he was selling them for $20 each so, I think of all the BS Spotify accounts he must have created to do it and realize he's just another fucking stupid Human doing something stupid.

You and your post are just fine, that's not the problem. :)
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Thanks. I really was thinking that I'd get a lot of negativity. I like free things. Not sure about home-espionage. I'll give the critter a try.
 
surlyroad said:
Thanks. I really was thinking that I'd get a lot of negativity. I like free things. Not sure about home-espionage. I'll give the critter a try.
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I took advantage of this deal (just once) along with another deal for a Google Show from a while back. I'm going to be doing a lot of driving over the next few weeks so super cheap Spotify premium is welcome.

I was switching from one privacy invasive platform (Amazon Echo) to another invasive platform (Google Home). Amazon's got a lot of cool Echo-specific gadgets but this Home platform is just way better at software, which is expected. You literally just have to say, "Hey Google," and, "Ok Google" twice and it'll recognize your voice. My GF, who has a foreign accent, had a lot of trouble with Alexa no matter how much training she did with it, but just those two phrases was enough for Home to understand her every time, and the content is personalized depending on who does the wake command.

I just wish we could change the wake phrase. "OK Google" is pretty clunky.

An annoying omission in the design of the mini though is the lack of any kind of physical audio out. While both the Home mini and the Echo dot have garbage audio (possibly the Echo dot having insignificantly better audio), at least with the Echo you can connect external speakers without resorting to wireless via the TRS port. The hidden volume buttons on the Home mini are also a bit awkward. Makes it look sleeker but the physical, visible buttons on an Echo dot are just more practical.

I get that Spotify/Google wanted to push out FREE stuff but bundling something with such junk sound quality isn't going to help endear people to the service. Would have been way better for a normal Google Home with a steep discount.
 
sweeeeet, free wiretap...

a3MzOb5_700b.jpg
 
I'm hoping that my free, and soon to arrive, Google Home mini, will super-duper my life up. I'm single, so no more feeling alone. I'm going to keep her next to my bed. Soon enough, we will be bonded. She will just learn more and more about me. I know, some of you folks think that she might be a security risk. She wouldn't do that to me. Why would she?
 
Thank you so much for your interest.
We're sorry to say this offer is not available at this time.

We'll be sure to let you know about new offers in the future.
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Damnit. Guess I'll refund that $15 family plan....
edit: it only bill me $0.99 guess they pulled the plug early?
 
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elite.mafia said:
Damnit. Guess I'll refund that $15 family plan....
edit: it only bill me $0.99 guess they pulled the plug early?
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If you mean the Spotify family thing, it was being billed at $0.99 for 3 months and not the $14.99 for the full price, it's considered a trial period for new members even if they don't outright tell you that up front. Some people were billed $14.99 at first when they signed up but received a $14 credit within a few days, most of us (myself included) got charged $0.99 to begin with. I really have no use for Spotify (I use Deezer these days 'cause FLAC) but I'll keep it active for a few weeks.
 
Tiberian said:
If you mean the Spotify family thing, it was being billed at $0.99 for 3 months and not the $14.99 for the full price, it's considered a trial period for new members even if they don't outright tell you that up front. Some people were billed $14.99 at first when they signed up but received a $14 credit within a few days, most of us (myself included) got charged $0.99 to begin with. I really have no use for Spotify (I use Deezer these days 'cause FLAC) but I'll keep it active for a few weeks.
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I wish this had been explained earlier in this thread. I didn't get a family plan and no mini because I didn't know it wasn't $15 as stated on their site
 
The info about the $0.99 vs the $14.99 was something I found out myself but from another source of info about the offer in the first place. As this wasn't my thread I didn't think to include that info, sorry. :unsure:
 
Whatever. I just wanted you guys to know the deal was out there. I've set mine up, and it's pretty cool, actually. It's really only for Android users.

I kind of regret bringing the whole issue up.
 
Tiberian said:
If you mean the Spotify family thing, it was being billed at $0.99 for 3 months and not the $14.99 for the full price, it's considered a trial period for new members even if they don't outright tell you that up front. Some people were billed $14.99 at first when they signed up but received a $14 credit within a few days, most of us (myself included) got charged $0.99 to begin with. I really have no use for Spotify (I use Deezer these days 'cause FLAC) but I'll keep it active for a few weeks.
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It's actually 3 months for Premium and when you switch to Family it goes to 2 months with the free Google Mini.
 
I'm enjoying the hell out of mine. I didn't think I would. Music quality isn't great, but for audiobooks it kicks butt. And I can just yak at it to adjust volume, pause, etc.

Best $0.00 I've ever spent.
 
surlyroad said:
I'm enjoying the hell out of mine. I didn't think I would. Music quality isn't great, but for audiobooks it kicks butt. And I can just yak at it to adjust volume, pause, etc.

Best $0.00 I've ever spent.
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I told it "Good Night" and it started playing nature sounds.
 
kingk, I don't know what to tell ya. Mine's pluggin' away with some Zep right now. Ok, the deal died a millisecond after I placed my order. Whatever. I wasn't trying to waste anybody's time, trust me. I learned about the deal on reddit. Blame them. I'm done.
 
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