The Portal Mini ($129) has an 8-inch display; the Portal ($179) we tested has a 10-inch display; and the Portal+ ($229) has a massive 15.6-inch display that can rotate from portrait to landscape mode. This social network platform for businesses hosts numerous features, that used correctly, can help companies get rid of some of the most common communication headaches. Facebook Portal review (2nd generation) The second-generation Facebook Portal smart display is an improvement in every way. Yes, Facebook’s myriad privacy issues have still not been adequately resolved. Display: 10 inches (1280 x 900 pixels) It has Alexa built-in and can be used to play music, check the feed from other smart products (like a Ring video doorbell), display photos, play with AR effects and more. The Facebook Portal changed that. When Facebook debuted its Portal video chat devices last year, they were met with a great deal of skepticism. If you’re on either of those platforms — and there’s a good chance you are — then the Portal is a smart display worth considering. And, by using the Portal, you’re not giving up any more information than you would have otherwise. Give credit where it’s due: With the original Portal, Facebook figured out a problem when making video calls from a smart display. Facebook Portal TV is designed for TVs, so you can make video calls to your Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp contacts on a big screen. It’s a lot more sophisticated than the cheap plastic clip that served a similar function on the original Portal. If you don’t video chat through Facebook and you don’t have $200 to spare, this device isn’t for you. Yes. However, if you’re already on Facebook, you’ve likely already made this calculus in your head. $230 AUD) is the original model and has recently been seen a sleeker 'picture frame' design. You can pretty much do everything with Alexa on the Portal as you can on any other Amazon device: Control smart home products, play music, play games, and control the volume of the Portal’s speakers. One fun aspect of video calls via the Portal are all the filters you can apply not just to yourself, but to the other people on the call. Along the left edge are volume controls. This is essentially the same device, but with a much bigger 15.6-inch display. Audio during video calls was equally strong. However, with competition from the likes of the Amazon Echo Show and Google Home Hub, as well as rising privacy concerns when it comes to smart home tech and Facebook, the big question is: should you buy a Facebook Portal? Read the rest of our Facebook Portal review to see if its benefits outweigh its issues. Surrounding this is a small gap between the border and the exterior of the frame, which not only serves as a nice design element, but also allows audio through, while hiding its actual speakers. Enjoy fogging. The Portal comes with 18 bookmarked webpages, which include Yelp, ESPN, Twitch, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and, of course, Facebook. The same goes for other sites such as YouTube and ESPN. NY 10036. For starters, all Portal video calls are encrypted and, according to Facebook, the AI technology within the camera and microphone run locally on the devices themselves rather than on Facebook's servers. $152 AUD) and Portal TV (£99 / $149 / approx. As of October 2020, Facebook has also added Zoom, and expects to add more web-conferencing apps (BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, WebEx) to the Portal at some point. “Hey Portal, play WBGO” was continually misinterpreted, as was my ask to stream 97.5 the Fanatic. Come and Chill. It's a webcam that tethers to your television via HDMI. © Please refresh the page and try again. Facebook also makes the Portal TV ($149), which is essentially a webcam you stick on top of your television. $191 AUD). Visit our corporate site. The place is yours :) I personally tested the larger Portal+, which has a 15.6-inch rotating display, and it's downright huge — thi… ... Portal-to-Portal Facebook calls work brilliantly, and the picture quality is excellent. There was a problem. Camera: 13 MP, 114-degree field of view Don’t panic yet, though. If you do a lot of video calling with friends and family, the Facebook Portal, Portal Plus or Portal Mini could be worthy contenders for a smart display so you don't always have to use your smartphone or tablet. The Photo Booth app lets you take both stills and video, and apply the same filters as you would during a video call. Despite my being in a somewhat dark room, the Portal’s camera produced a bright, colorful image. The features on both are pretty much the same, the main differences being size (the Portal+ is larger and has a slightly better speaker and display) and price. While the Portal’s camera-tracking can be a bit sluggish — there’s a delay of about a second from the time you move to the time the camera shifts — it was neat to watch it lock on to me, eventually. So it's just like the Portal, but with a big screen – your TV screen. Facebook offers the Portal in three versions. The Portal TV is a little different. Facebook Portal is the smaller 10-inch product in the line-up; a series which also includes Portal Mini and a TV-mounted device known as Portal TV. In keeping with its aesthetic, the 10-inch touchscreen is surrounded by an ersatz matte border — the thing that costs so much when you go to get a picture framed. Fast-forward a year later and Facebook announced a second-generation of Portal devices, including the Portal Mini (£79 / $129 / approx. 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