![]() ![]() Tap on the screen and you'll see your Messenger contacts to call, with some favorites you can set, and some suggested contacts the Portal thinks you should talk to. Google Assistant smart displays work much better as digital photo frames, simply because Google Photos is a more popular photo management platform. Most people don't use Facebook as a primary photo platform, though, and it can't show Instagram photos, even though Facebook owns Instagram. They can be set to "me only," although Facebook will still analyze your data for ads. Any photos it shows must be uploaded to Facebook. The Portal's default mode is as a digital picture frame, showing photos of you or your friends from Facebook. You can add up to four Facebook accounts on the Portal, and switch between them. The user interface is custom, and generally quite smooth. While the Portal isn't running Android, per se, its operating system is based on AOSP (the Android open source platform). You can't "cast" video to the Portal from other devices or sources, only audio. When hooked up to a phone playing Google Play Music, I got song names but not album art showing on the Portal. Interestingly, when using a Plantronics Voyager Focus UC with the Portal for video calls, audio played through the headset's headphones, but the Portal continued to use its built-in mic rather than my headset mic. You can use it as an audio destination for your computer or phone, or as a source that plays through Bluetooth headphones. ![]() The Portal has Bluetooth, but no 3.5mm input or output. It can work with hotel and public Wi-Fi portal pages, so it's easy enough to take on the road if you want higher-quality video calls than you can get with your phone. While it's only sold in the US, the Portal will work all over the world. (Opens in a new window) Read Our Facebook Portal+ Review The Portal comes with a physical plastic clip you can use to cover the camera, and it also has physical volume buttons and a physical camera/mic button that disables the camera and mic. The dual speakers are below the screen, and the 12-megapixel, 140-degree fish-eye camera is above it. At 9.8 by 8.2 by 3.6 (HWD) and 2.7 pounds, it's taller than Amazon's Echo Show and Lenovo's Smart Display, mostly because of its 10.1-inch, 16:10, 1,280-by-800-pixel display. The Portal looks very familiar to anyone who's seen a smart display before. The two devices have mostly the same functionality, but we're noting the differences in our individual reviews. If you buy two, you get $100 off the bundle. There are two models of Portal: The $199 Portal, reviewed here, and the $349 Portal+, which has a much larger screen. Facebook is such a mess in terms of controlling who uses your data for vicious ends, though, that we can't recommend this product to individuals until the company gets its house in order. As a business video chat solution, it's absolutely terrific. It's not as good as its competitors as a digital picture frame or a smart speaker, but it's better for video calling. Alexa support falls a bit short of the Echo Show.įacebook's Portal ($199) is a supremely capable video calling appliance you shouldn't buy until we're all convinced that Facebook isn't destroying democracy.Facebook is a political and privacy disaster area. ![]() How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad. ![]() How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages. ![]()
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