Customer Ratings & Reviews

This was the greatest way to keep in contact with the relatives around the country...from Alaska to CT, NJ and beyond!

Gave this to my daughter so we can video chat when we want to. Great price when it was Deal-of-the-Day.

This Portal provides a comfortable and functional communication system which allows for an enjoyable conversation.

Even though the ability to do video teleconferencing is baked into just about everything with enough space to mount a webcam these days, there are surprisingly few devices that are explicitly designed for video calls on the consumer market. Of those that do exist, Facebook’s portal devices are arguably the most feature rich and refined options out there. The second generation Portal does an admirable job of continuing in this tradition while also offering a much more compact and unobtrusive design that’ll look more at home in your living room than their predecessors, and for the most part does a pretty good job. From a design perspective they’ve pretty much nailed it. When you’re not using it for video chats, the Portal looks like a very nice digital picture frame. It pulls directly from your Facebook account, cycling through photos ever few minutes and occasionally offering an update on the weather or suggestions about things you can do with it. Once you activate it via a voice command or tap the screen the pictures are replaced by a minimalist but highly functional interface for calling your contacts in Facebook’s Messenger or WhatsApp platforms. Video calls themselves are a little less “magical” than the ads suggest, with the camera sometimes making unneeded adjustments to zoom or positioning because it thinks it’s spotted a new face or the lighting just changed, but it’s nonetheless highly capable and features much better audio than you could expect to get with a cell phone. The AR features it offers, while not quite on par with the ones available on platforms like Snapchat, all work well and will delight any young children on the other side of the chat. Overall the user experience is polished enough that you won’t mind spending an hour or two on a single call, which speaks to the level of polish and attention to detail that’s been given to the device and its software. I’m also pleased to note that there is a physical button allowing you to shutter the camera and shut off the mic pickup – pretty much necessary in my opinion given Facebook’s somewhat spotty record regarding consumer data collection. That said, I do find there are a few things that keep me from giving it full marks. To start, the design of the unit pretty much requires that it be set up on a desk or table, as the power cable (strangely referred to as a “charging cable” in the documentation despite the fact that the Portal doesn’t have an internal battery) doubles as a kickstand. I don’t have a ton of spare desk space, so both the 10” unit I received (which I’d definitely recommend for the addition of a USB-C port allowing you some additional connectivity options) ended up taking up more of it than I’d like. Given the choice I’d much rather mount it on the wall or to the back of my desk’s hutch, but I don’t see any way to achieve that with this sort of design. There were also several cases where I found myself thinking that it really would be nice if there were some kind of internal battery that would let me take it into a neighboring room to show my nephew something or let someone else say hello without needing to go through the whole process of booting it up and restarting the video call. And, of course, there is the Facebook issue. Facebook has insisted on numerous occasions that they aren’t watching the data from Portal calls, nor are they identifying specific users to gather metadata. And they have done an admirable job in making their privacy notices highly visible and clear enough for a layman to understand them. But I can’t say I don’t feel a little uneasy at times given their record, and I probably wouldn’t recommend this unit if not for the inclusion of the privacy controls for the camera and mic on that basis alone. Despite those issues, I do think the Portal has a lot more to recommend it than not for a lot of people. Particularly for customers who aren’t necessarily the most tech savvy, such as grandparents or their young grandchildren. The overall simplicity and comfort of the UX on this thing is refined enough that they’ll likely find it considerably less intimidating than the alternatives available, and it’s pretty enough to fit into anyone’s décor. Overall, an excellent improvement over an already solid product.

It's an easy way to communicate with family, I actually like Facebook more because of this little gem

I'm not able to be with my sick and aging parents due to my job. With this I'm able to see my parents and assess them and I have peace of mind.

Got this for wife's parents. They love it. Best gift they ever got. Can talk to and see family, grandkids that live in NY, CA and FL.

What a great gift for my family. We love using our portal to communicate with our grandchildren who do not live close to us. Highly approved!

Great product to stay in touch with family and friends. Only problem I have with this model is that it doesn’t have the lens cover like the previous version that lets you cover the camera when not in use.

I bought this for my mother, but she was unable to connect and use, so I had to return the unopened package , and now I am waiting for my refund.

I purchased the FB Portal, to enhance my online meetings/training appointments. This is exactly what i needed!

Love it so much. Highly recommend. I use it everyday and am enjoying it.

This is the best purchase I have ever made thanks Best Buy for wanting me to get this I love it

Love the product, but feel disappointed that Best Buy would not price match the cheaper advertised price I showed the Best Buy employee.

Any product never used with such a satisfaction. Best photo frame and highy quality video calling.

Gifted it to my sister for her birthday. She loved it. Great deal at 50 bucks

Enjoying this during the times we are in communicating with family. Works as advertised. Solid connection as well with the WiFi

Great gadget. Should include the cord needed to hook up to TV. Need special one. A lot of special features, apps and fun stuff.

Overall a great photo frame and Facebook video option. Does pretty decent job with zoom and follow video options.

The Portal was easy to setup and I have used it several times with no issues.