Google Assistant said that Christmas in the U.S. was on December 26th; it wasn't wrong

Just before the Fourth of July earlier this year, we told you about a cool new feature that Google implemented for its Pixel handsets. If a holiday falls out on a weekday, the night before the Google Assistant will remind Pixel owners to disable their daily alarm allowing them to sleep in on a day when they don’t have to get up early. The notification says, “Tomorrow is (name of the holiday). Tap to change your alarm.”

No, Google Assistant was not losing its mind; Christmas in the U.S. and U.K. was a government holiday on Monday

Well, several people in the U.S. and U.K. thought that the Google Assistant was losing its mind on Sunday night when they saw a notification that said “Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Tap to change your (time) alarm.” The problem is that Christmas Day was on Sunday confusing Pixel users who thought that the top-ranked digital helper had a software issue. Those Pixel users who received such a notification posted on social media sites like Reddit to say that Google Assistant was ill with a minor bug.

Nope, Google Assistant didn’t get the date wrong

If you received the notification and thought to yourself that your Pixel handset was screwed up, the truth is that the Google Assistant was perfectly correct. That’s right. With Christmas falling on a Sunday, in the U.S. the federal holiday was observed on Monday. That’s why Americans did not receive mail today. And the notification to turn off the alarm isn’t sent on the weekend since most people don’t have to wake up early for work on Saturday or Sunday.

So, in response to Redditors like DrRobin who shared a screenshot of the notification and wrote, “How does it get the date wrong?” the answer is that Google Assistant didn’t get the date wrong because Christmas was being observed this year by the federal government on Monday, December 26th. And since you probably already get Sunday off, there was no reason for Google to remind you to turn off the alarm until Sunday night.

Now, not everyone got Monday off, but those who didn’t could choose to simply ignore Google’s notification and keep the alarm set for an early morning wake-up call. Conversely, those who knew that they were getting Monday off could tap on the notification and dismiss the alarm for Monday morning.

Now you’ll be prepared for the next time Christmas falls on a Sunday…in 2033

While Google Assistant was actually 100% correct today (and the same thing applied to those in the U.K. who received the same notification on Sunday night), it does bring back some memories about the inability of iOS in the early days of the iPhone to correctly adjust the clock to the beginning or end of Daylight Saving Time. For example, in March 2012 iOS moved the clocks back an hour instead of moving them ahead by 60 minutes.

But you can be rest assured that Google knows that the actual date of Christmas is December 25th. And next year, when Christmas falls on a Monday, we won’t have this problem. The next time that Christmas Day is on a Sunday will be December 25th, 2033. So Pixel users have 11 years to understand exactly what happened this year. By then, Pixel 17 and Pixel 17 users will have to deal with this issue.

As far as this writer is concerned, Google Assistant is the best of the virtual digital assistants although, to be honest, I felt that the Assistant heard me more clearly on the Pixel 2 XL than on the Pixel 6 Pro. This has forced me to type in my queries more times than I would like. Regardless, Assistant still has better hearing than Siri and you’re more likely to get a knowledgeable response with Google Assistant. Siri is more apt to give you an internet link to tap instead of an answer.

Google Assistant said that Christmas in the U.S. was on December 26th; it wasn’t wrong

No, Google Assistant was not losing its mind; Christmas in the U.S. and U.K. was a government holiday on Monday

Now you’ll be prepared for the next time Christmas falls on a Sunday…in 2033

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