Portal Mini Black 8" from Facebook. Smart, Hands-Free Video Calling with Alexa Built-in

Decent quality , it’s still being used

This is the BEST product that I've bought on-line. It far exceeded my expectations. I bought this so that I could Facetime my 87 yr old Uncle who is recovering (!!!!) from Covid-19 and is in a nursing home under lock-down. We thought about a simple cell phone...but even that was too high tech for him. The Portal is so simple to set up. The picture quality is far superior to an iPhone that we tried. The camera focus is GREAT and it follows small movements. The speaker is excellent. My Uncle could not hear a cell phone, even set on speaker. He now hears me clearly! Although he is physically not yet able to place a video call, the Administrator of the nursing home did, just by touching the screen and than touching my picture. She thinks that many other residents would like to have their own Portal. I bought two more for my great-grandchildren. My only regret is that there was a discount offered three days after my purchase. I can't wait to get my great grandchildren set up!

Less than 10 mins of verbal instructions to my 86 year old Mom who is SO technologically challenged, she still uses ar flip phone and has no idea what FB even is or how it works...and she had it down. I had to create a FB account for her, but other than that its abt as easy as it gets to set up and use within minutes. Highly recommend this for anyone who has a loved one they want to see and speak to. Dig the Portal apps on it too. My expectations were definitely exceeded....worth every cent!

I bought the Portal to replace our little Echo dot in the kitchen, as well as for video calling relatives over Facebook Messenger. It does a decent job with the video calling. The camera automatically zooming and tracking you is a neat gimmick. But over time I quickly realized several design shortcomings. For one, you would think a product mostly designed for contacting senior relatives would allow for a really loud ring volume that could be heard across the house. Well you can do that, but there is only one volume control so if you'd like to play music at a low volume during the day, your portal will ring at a similar low volume when someone calls. We usually had music playing most of the day on the Echo dot, and when I'm working at my desk in another room and want to change the volume I could easily do it from the Alexa app on my phone without having to get up. Even though the Portal "includes Alexa," you cannot control volume remotely like this. You also can't "drop in" like on the Echo products, which I used to use as a makeshift intercom between floors in our house. The Portal mobile app is mostly useless. You can cast a photo or video from your phone to the Portal, which doesn't seem worth the trouble to me when the screen is only a few inches bigger than my phone is. You can't "speak to" the Portal through the phone app. And the Alexa app is similarly useless for communicating with the Portal. And don't even consider buying this for someone if they don't have a Facebook account. That is mandatory to use the device. Overall, I was left wishing I bought an Echo Show instead.

Bought this device to communicate with my dad who has limited vision and mobility. He is able to call family members and answer calls with just a voice command. We use Facebook messenger to communicate with him. Although he really can't see us (because of limited vision) we can see him, which helps us know that he is okay. After we made him a Facebook account and added the "friends" he wants to communicate with, all we had to do was connect to wifi. The device stays plugged in all the time, so we don't have to worry about charging it. So happy we found a device like this to keep us connected.

We didn't need something with a lot of different functions since we bought this for my father-in-law who lives in an assisted living facility and has dementia. We wanted something super easy to use without assistance. This is perfect for our purposes.

Product doesn’t have ease of use. Facebook or What’s App shouldn’t be a requirement to use. Even after downloading the Google App, I’m still unable to download contacts or enable the microphone. Will be returning.

En su época fue bueno Se desactualiza fácil y se vuelve muy lento Es muy limitado en sus navegaciones y accesos a Apps

Article acheté en Mai, livré avec une prise Anglaise non conforme a mon pays de livraison. L'article a été utilisé une fois et depuis ne fonctionne plus dutout. impossible de retourner l'article. Je ne recommande absolument pas.

Cadeau

This is great device for zoom calls

I purchases 2 of these as during lockdown my daughter had our first grandaughter, so i had one delivered to my daughters address and one for me and my wife. Setting up is really easy and use is easy too, i love the way the camera changes the shot to include as many people as possible, it means my daughter can deal with her new baby while chatting and we get to be involved (hopefully we will get to hold the baby soon). The sound from the Portal is really clear and it has volume controls on the side. we also use the portal to store all the new picture of our grandaughter so it acts as a digital photo frame when not in use, and manages to bring a smile to my face when i see new pictures appearing. I havn't used the Alexa functions much, but while decorating i asked Alexa to play 'Heart 80's' and away it goes so a radio too :). Overall i have been very impresses with this, it would have been nice if you could screen share with the TV while using whatsapp or messenger, but i understand they have a TV version (at 3 times the price), so wouldn't want to add this feature as it may affect sales of other models.

As others already mentioned, the device does not receive calls, which is a bit frustrating at first. Facebook helpcentre recommends calling from the Portal to a mobile device first, which allegedly triggers an updates of the Messenger app on the mobile, which then should be able to make a call the other way round. This never helped though. In the end we're happy to receive calls from grandmother whenever it suits her schedule rather than randomly calling her when she's hanging out, so not a major issue. Bought it in a substantial discount as well - maybe would be more annoyed by this had I paid the full price :D Otherwise quite a premium-looking device, decent screen and sound quality. You can install a Portal app on your phone, log in with your grandma's account and keep feeding her with pictures that are then displayed on the device after each call - another thing she really enjoys, except for the photo of a common seal we met on a beach, which creeps her out. Well, she's from a landlocked country so that's understandable :) I'm still a bit nervous from the possibility that Facebook might just randomly block her account due to a lack of other activity or whatever, which would be a massive inconvenience. Let's see and keep it four stars for now :)