Facebook Portal Plus - Smart Video Calling 15.6” Touch Screen Display with Alexa - Black

I bought this for my grandfather just as coronavirus started to become a real concern. I wanted him to be able to video chat with the family when we weren't able to visit him. Unfortunately, his retirement community went on lockdown before I could deliver it. So until I can get it to him, we are using it in our home. I have a 5year old and a 16 month old. Video chatting with them via phone is hard for the people on the other end of the screen. They are ALL OVER THE PLACE and hard to follow. The portal has a nice wide field of vision that keeps them in frame most of the timeHowever the BEST feature is the automatic face detection and camera tracking. It follows the girls all over our living room, keeping them in frame so their grandparents can always see them. It isn't 100% perfect, but it is a huge improvement over not having ng this feature and just trying to follow them with the phone. Surprised - I thought this was a pointless product, but now that I have one, it is the only way I want to video callFwiw, the Alexa and FB assistant I tegratio s are nice, and the speakers are quite good quality (and powerful). We listen to Pandora, Amazon music, and lots more on here daily.I will probably buy one of these to replace it once I give this one to my grandfather. There are really great for connecting with family.

So i use Facebook messenger and whats up app a lot(daily) so this is an amazing devise for me. It is so cool, it moves when you move (moderate speed, so don't run) and it zooms in and out (for example if you were in a room talking and someone else comes in it zooms out to catch that person and vise versa when that person leaves it zooms back in on you). Also if there is a sound in the background it concentrates on your voice so the person on the other line does not get distracted. Also on messenger you can tell stories (kids stories). Now for Alexa app, its good but not perfect let me explain more so it does pull up recipes and turns on and off the lights but it doesn't save the recipe like the other Alexa apps and it doesn't show you the feed to your cameras but other than that its great and very useful to not have you holding your phone all the time and can multi task while you're chatting... i love it. My advice to you if you dont use the messenger and whats up apps regularly it wouldn't be useful to you. Hope this review helps your decision.

This is our 3rd portal we love it so much. We gifted our other 2 to our niece and nephew who visited on different occasions. Like my son, they were obsessed with it don't have Amazon where they're from. We're able to keep in touch with our family via messenger and Whatsapp while all being logged into our separate accounts. The photos of our choices are displayed on the screen when it's not being used. I'm also able to join zoom for our club meetings and change my background. My son and I call his cousins and read stories to them. There are so many to choose from. We also have lots of silly filters and cool backgrounds to use while on the videos calls.The camera follows you wherever you go, and you can change that if you want to. The audio gets so loud. And the portal is very solid!! Highly recommend it.

The media could not be loaded. Basic summary: this thing is an ipad connected to a speaker and hefty post. I'd highly recommend it as a gift to a technologically illiterate grandparent to make it easier to video call or use an Alexa (while also giving them the peace of mind of the mic/cam cover) or for an office lobby.I purchased this with the express purpose of using it for zoom meetings at our office when the public shows up. Fairly easy to set up the zoom call and the video follows you around the room as you walk around. I'd be tempted to use it as my main zoom method if I was more of the standing desk type. It went above the original purpose as both easy to use and great for calming music with aquarium videos via YouTube. One downside is the annoyance of limited music streaming apps and other video apps. If they can provide more apps like Disney+ or things with kid-friendly content, I'd have more options for bored kids.Couple of Tricks:Having an active screen of serene items can be done by going to YouTube (as seen in video)If you have an Alexa account, I'd suggest using it for general questions (play music, what's my schedule, call x)Use the "Hey Portal" phrase to open apps or adjust settings (NOT Alexa)Be careful of the button on top that turns off the mic (otherwise you spend 5 minutes yelling at it)

Being a technophile I think this is better quality than anything Amazon has put out. I purchased 2 portal plus's and while I wish I could call people also on Echo or Skype, the hardware is far better than Echo show (which I also own). I'm not a huge fan of Facebook but the tech is sound and of great quality ( once again comparing to echo show) this is so far a better product than anything currently available and I hope that Google and Amazon take notice. The ability to transfer my call immediately to my phone is on awesome when I leave the room. It's quick and instantaneous and I don't have to think about it. If you dislike Facebook, I can empathize but great tech is great tech and this piece of hardware is fantastic albeit in this day and age I also dont like being locked in to a single communication system but I don't necessarily think that's Facebook fault. I want my hardware independent from any corp and let it speak on it's own merit. We don't live in the 20th century after all.

This portal is amazing my husband uses it on a daily basis for video calling or even just watching a show or listening to some music. For anyone who is always using Facebook messenger to stay in contact with family and friends this is definitely the device for you. You free up your mobile device for other things while you still keep in contact with all your loved ones on this one device. Love it and I would recommend to everyone who uses Facebook messenger on a regular basis.