Facebook has announced its first major consumer hardware, the Portal video communications device. Similar to Amazon's Echo Show or Google's smart displays, the desktop, tablet-like device is designed to facilitate video calls over Facebook Messenger from home or the office.
The 10-inch Portal and 15-inch Portal+ are available initially in the US, with pre-orders on Facebook's website and from Amazon and Best Buy. They will begin shipping in November. The 10-inch model costs USD 199, and the larger Portal+ is priced at USD 349 USD. Customers who buy two of the devices receive USD 100 off the total price.
The Portal comes with an HD display and AI features such as Smart Camera to follow a person around the room during a call and Smart Sound to filter out background voices. It also works with voice commands, so users have hands-free control and start calls just by saying 'Hey Portal', and the Portal supports Amazon's digital assistant Alexa, so users can call up other information such as the weather, sports scores, grocery lists or smart home controls.
Group calls are possible between up to seven people. Other features include shared activities such as listening to music or watching videos together. Initial partners for this include Spotify Premium, Pandora, and iHeartRadio, as well as Facebook Watch, Food Network and Newsy. The Story Time feature offers a teleprompter to read stories to the person on the other end of the line, while they see the reader's facial expressions. When not in use, the Portal can display personal photos and video and provide notifications such as calendar events.
To address the growing privacy and security concerns for its products, Facebook also made it possible to disable the camera and microphone on the device with a single tap and included a camera cover to block the camera lens at any time, while still receive incoming calls and notifications. In addition, all calls are encrypted, and Facebook said it would never store data on the content of calls. Voice commands can also be deleted at any time.
