Facebook - Portal Plus Smart Video Calling 15.6" Display with Alexa - White

This was probably the best gift for the grandparents. Now they can easily brisk through facebook photos from their favorite people...an unexpected surprise! Once a week or so, they listen to Pandora and watch the photos together. It's great for keeping them up to date for anything they missed on their facebook timelines. There is a small learning curve but nothing like trying to get them to use facebook directly on an apple or PC. This system streamlines the experience and gives them exactly what they want to see without the extra features and software that really only complicates everything for them. The video quality is top notch! This has already bridged the gap that a phone call could not. Now they're bragging to their neighborhood and Church. Good times :)

Wow is all I can say! Our family is a HUGE fan of the new Facebook Portal and Portal +. My boys and I haven’t stopped using it since we plugged it in! I’ll be honest, I don’t use Facebook a ton, I mostly use Instagram to push all my posts to Facebook, and I will login a couple times a week to see what’s going on…but now, I feel like Facebook has completely changed the game with the Portal and Portal +. My favorite feature has to be the smart camera which literally follows you around as you move through the room! Now if you are anything like our family, getting two boys under 4 to sit still and talk for any given period of time is basically impossible, so this feature is incredible! I also love that the camera can get super wide if there are multiple people in frame, or focus in, if it’s just a one-on-one conversation. Some other amazing features are that it has Amazon Alex Built-in, it can display photos as well as show you videos from your Facebook friends, you can also listen to your favorite music through apps like Pandora, Spotify and iHeart Radio. I have to say the number of options, outside of calling people and watching videos on Facebook, is a bit limited for now but I have to assume they will be adding more and more apps as time goes one. One thing I also love is you can bring up to six other people into a group call, hence why I think this maybe my go to Christmas Present this year.

I surprised my wife with a new portal! She loved and already know how to use it! That portal is excellent with all the features in it, but I have to still learn it myself!

After many months of trouble with the connection and inability to reset the device, I emailed Facebook about the issues to no avail..still no response and refer you to a blog. I've reached out to them 1 month before manufacture warranty ended, they didn't help or respond, it's now the new year and my manufacture warranty is over. Tbh, That was FB goal to ignore me as the warranty would soon be expired. I'll never support anything from Facebook ever again. This useless item sits on counter with dark screen only and stays loading and flickering, not to mention does other buggy things like turns on Mic or Cam out of nowhere without me doing anything. This device was well taken care of and never dropped or abused. I'm extremely unhappy I wasted $700 for two of these devices. I'm not materialistic and barely on FB, I did it so we can gather on portal as bro just moved north with new baby. Turned out to be a $700 headache entire time. Thanks Facebook for ignoring my inquiries and warranty.

It is more like actually being with one another, almost as though you are in the same room, even when you are many miles away from one another. Portal has a smart camera that moves around with you. You can continue to do whatever it was when you connected with another person. The camera will follow you so that you don’t pop in and out of view. The camera will automatically widen to capture more people as they enter the room, making it easy to connect with more than just one person at a time. The sound is smart as well. Portal enhances the voice of the person who is speaking through a microphone that cancels out much of the background noise. When you are not making a video call Portal can display your Facebook photos and videos. You can also ask Portal to fill the room with your favorite music through its powerful hi-fi speaker system. Overall, the Facebook Portal

the way it follows and zoom in and face recognition are a plus, I love my portal and I use it as my alexa player too

We haven’t had this long but it’s really fun. It came as part of a blogger campaign, but we have been enjoying the communication features with friends and family a lot! We are excited to keep using it especially through the holidays! The other features seem decent. Video clarity is excellent. Some of the Facebook watch videos aren’t super kid friendly so we will either be diligent while the kids use it or look into how to set up parental controls. I see some negative comments about the Alexa features, and to be honest, I am quite confident those will come in time. Be patient!! Our Portal has already updated since we started using it so I’m sure that as time goes by and more consumers are using these Portals, that Alexa features will work more and more smoothly. The only con I have found is what someone else noted- and it’s not a con so much as an annoyance. The verification code seems to be popping up every time you want to change or adjust something so hopefully that’s in an update soon to fix that.

The great thing about Portal is it helps you stay connected. Easy to set up and get going right out of the box. Love that Alexa is integrated with it, and my kids do too. The Superframe is great for those photos that usually just end up in albums on Facebook, never to be seen again. The smart camera is fun and a great alternative to reminding kids to stay in the frame. :) Would love to see - and maybe I just haven't figured it out yet - a way to mute Portal but still use Alexa. (It's a curious kid thing)