Customer Ratings & Reviews

I only kept this because the video calling experience is far above any of the others but I hate Facebook and messenger for just about everything else. The app selection sux and the alexa integration is ofcourse LIMITED.

I brought this for my mother so that I would be able to face time her. Unfortunately the device had a hard time recognizing her voice so it wasn’t viable for her

so i like the idea of video chat that move with you but that fact it is so big in size make it not portable so i end up returning it.

It was okay but not for me it worked good,but only if you also had one to view

Beware, lengthy review. First off lets get this out of the way...This is a VIDEO CHAT device FIRST that has limited smart speaker/display abilities. It's made by Facebook, which may or may not bring you PRIVACY CONCERNS. This info has been covered by countless reviews on youtube and other sites, so this, IMO should not be considered in rating the device...You SHOULD know what you're getting into if you buy this. Now...the device does well what it's advertised to do, that's video calling via FB messenger. I've only tried using it to call family w/ smartphones/tablets, as no one else I know has a portal. When both ends are on wifi, the video quality is 8/10 or sometimes 9/10. The other person have told me that the video quality is noticeably better (even though they think I'm calling them from a smartphone). When the other person is on cellular data, the video quality displayed on the portal is around 6-7/10. Still better than smartphone to smartphone, but with occasional frame drops. Sound transmission overall is 6/10. There's sometimes delays in audio, and occasional cut offs. This is when other caller is on wifi or cellular. Overall UI is 6/10...It works and you can learn to use/navigate it pretty quickly, since there is limited capabilities thus less clutter. Alexa feature is limited, and it seems to require a split second longer to voice commands than on my Echo Dot 3rd gen. I can still access Alexa and control certain smarthome devices...most of what I use Alexa for is accessible on the portal, YMMV. I opted for the 10.1 because of the price and also the design. It's more simple, and blends in with your home better than the 15 in model. One thing I'm pleasantly surprised with is that it serves very well as a digital photo frame (photo frames still retail well north of $50) when displaying FB photo albums. However, it should be noted that your camera needs to be on in order to keep the photo display function on, as the camera needs to detect movement in the room to prevent it from going to sleep. One issue I have with the 10.1 that may eventually push me to exchange it for the uglier designed 15 in, is that it's stuck in landscape mode. The biggest problem I'm facing now in calling to smartphones is the person receiving the call will likely answer their device in portrait mode. This not only shrinks the view on my portal, but it also limits the portal's wide camera angle. So if my wife is on one end of my living room, and I'm on the other, portal will likely only choose one person to zoom in on as it is trying to fit the camera angle into the other caller's narrow portrait mode screen (if that makes sense). I imagine it may just be a better experience to get the 15 in. portal for portrait mode capability. An easy (but eventually annoying) fix is just to tell the other caller to rotate their phone/tablet into landscape mode. Well, this sometimes works, but sometimes doesn't. I suspect this to be an issue with the FB messenger app version on certain devices. My calls to different people on both Android and iOS have been a fairly inconsistent experience, with some not being able to receive my calls, not able to call in directly to my portal, or not being able to rotate the screen and view in landscape mode. I called FB and they told me it's important for the other caller to update their FB messenger app...That's an inconvenience. Imagine calling multiple people, "Hey can you update your messenger app, so I can call you via portal?" My sister actually had to delete the messenger app and reinstall on her phone to get it to work. I assume a portal-to-portal call would be a much smoother experience. Overall, I like the device, and it'll be useful and worthwhile for me as I have small kids that I'd like to share with long distance family with their own small kids. All the callers I've used the portal with have said it was a better experience than traditional phone-to-phone video chat. If you are a single person, or if you don't live far from a friend/family you frequently contact, the portal is probably an unnecessary device that will just take up shelf space. Took away one star due to the various messenger app issues when calling to phones/tablets,

The camera follows u nicely and that's why I bought it but when told to do anything but call it will not react.

Love the idea of visual getting to talk to family. Just haven’t figured out what else it is good at yet.

Focus doesn't lock. If you start talking then it will go to you rather than ur kid. Didnt like it

The Alexa feature works okay with the portal. Daughter was looking for something more.

Was disappointed in video calling feature, cannot use without messenger

not a good buy. dont really need it and was outdated a month after buying it. does not work well at all cant connect to family like it says. its a brick.

Save your money, so not worth it! This an overrated Facebook tablet! I returned it the day after I purchased it and purchased the echo show 5 which I'm much happier with.

Really excited about this product but I purchased thinking it would work well with our Alexa features such as arlo, ring, and nest. Well it didn’t. So we will be returning.

This was bought as a gift but it is really only good if everyone else has an iPhone so it didn’t really work well for some

get the echo show 2nd gen. or just go off the grid and live the old fashioned way.

I made a bad choice with this product. I thought it would be more popular and more people would have one, not!

This product has a lot of issues. Calling feature has volume problems, camera shield scratched easily making product useless, internet connectivity is terrible, very limited capabilities and overall facebook in my home with all the privacy problems theyve recently had youre better off not wasting your money

I will be coming to Wausau in the near future. It doesn`t work right and it has to be checked out

the screen saver stays up a long time so it's irritatingly bright. Maybe there's a setting?

Great camera. Great mic but no FB! How does FB release a product you can't use FB on?