Facebook Portal Plus Black . Smart, Hands-Free Video Calling with Alexa Built-in

I was quite hesitant if this would be any good before buying it.No regrets anymore. Read on why!Primary purpose was for making Zoom calls and found mixed information on this topic. I even contacted Facebook Portal support to check. Surprisingly, the person who I was dealing with said Zoom was not supported! I sent them a link to a recent review in which it specifically mentioned Zoom. Only after that and this person conferred with someone else did they confirm it is supported.They also confirmed that there is only 1 generation of the device. So even though it may not be advertised, like with this seller, it does work.There are an array of apps you can install on this device. Zoom is simply one of them. Getting it installed and signed in was quick and easy.Facebook Messenger calling and WhatsApp calling are not permitted in the UAE, so I can’t offer any review of either.IMPORTANT: I almost sent the unit back initially trying to get remote working!The on-screen instructions were to press the centre button on the remote to sync it to the unit. This did not despite trying 3 different sets of batteries. I checked the troubleshooting pages and the steps there were in fact different. Easy after that.To sign in, could choose to use WhatsApp or Facebook account. Even though I won’t use this for Facebook calling (because I can’t), signed in using that account anyway.Setting up calls is relatively easy, but could do with some improvement.The call and video quality is excellent. The wide angle of the camera is very handy. The camera “follows” you around the room if move, and adjusts focus/zoom accordingly. Ie if just one person talking will Include just then in the frame. The more people, the wider the angle.The audio is excellent quality too. Amazing how sensitive (in a good way) the microphone is. My couch is around 3meters from the TV but the calling party could easily hear me while I was talking in a standard level. No need to raise my voice.The remote has Netflix and Prime Video and Facebook buttons too.

This is great device for zoom calls

Making calls works fine but receiving calls does NOT.If you have a smartphone then do not bother buying this device.If you do not have a smartphone do NOT bother buying this device either - I bought one for my grandmother, signed up to a new Facebook account for her and logged into the Portal. Calling worked but receiving calls did not. Randomly my grandmother's Facebook account was blocked and under review. I have submitted a photo, her mobile number etc. but it is still blocked. There is no way to contact FB and the Portal helpline who contacted me know very little about the device and cannot unblock FB accounts - even though this thing only works if you have a FB account.Overall AVOID.

I’m giving this a one star purely because you need a Facebook account to use these and the device is complete useless without one. I purchased one for my elderly mother-in-law as a nice and easy way of keeping in touch with her family - just like the advert makes out. But, just like most people of an older generation she doesn’t have a Facebook account. I thought that won’t be a problem. I’ll simply create and account for her so we can connect and video chat. But no, I created an account and then Facebook blocked it and disabled the account. I had to wait two days after every account creation to discover they have just disabled it AGAIN. It’s a nightmare. DO NOT buy this complete waste of time unless you already have a Facebook account.For a device that is literally being pitched to be for older people (I’m not being funny but I have multiple laptops/tablets/iPhones in my household that are all capable of FaceTime/FB video chat/Skype/WhatsApp video chat to need a device like this) I am completely dumbfounded that they wouldn’t have thought this part through. This is my first review I have ever written on amazon but I feel it is warranted and hopefully will stop someone making the same mistake I did.On a positive note Amazon are giving me until feb to return it as well as giving me the option to drop it into Next who are a 5 min walk from my house. Without the need to package or label it all for FREE. Well done Amazon. You get 5 stars!

Very easy set up, got one for us and one for parents in late 60s so they can stay involved with new baby. Very easy to pair with Messenger / WhatsApp, even those who don't have the system we're impressed with what they experienced on phones alone. The tech is impressive, automatically locks onto faces / voices, smoothly pans / zooms, ideal for moving about with crying / feeding baby. Will be used for feeding and bathing times, also perfect for Christmas day. Ignore the haters/tinfoil hat wearers. Ideal for far apart friends and family

I wanted a device that would enable me to make WhatsApp video calls using my TV as the local display, and this box does that extremely well.The unit itself feels solid, weighty and very well made. Using the built-in clips, it sits securely atop my Samsung flat screen TV, and the power cable is impressively long. They know the box is likely to be placed on top of a TV, so could be some distance away from the nearest power socket, so that attention to detail is really appreciated and unexpected - I expected to need an extension lead, but didn't.I was a little frustrated that the box spent over an hour updating itself before I could actually start using it. It said the software update may take about 15 minutes, but ended up taking very nearly a full hour. It then rebooted, at which point I thought I'd be able to start playing with my new toy, but no such luck. It then started updating the remote control, which took a further 3-4 minutes, taking the total update time to over an hour. Only then could I start setting the box up.It's a pity the box is WiFi only, as using a wired connection would have been more convenient (no need to enter a WiFi Key) and probably would have sped up the update process.Once I finally managed to start the setup process, this was really easy and intuitive, and only took a few minutes.One slight annoyance is that the on-screen keyboards are not QWERTY - the "keys" are arranged alphabetically, which I found awkward.During the setup process, I was offered a full-screen view of my own camera, so I could position the camera and play with the tracking feature and see what the picture was like. It would be nice to be able to recall this feature after initial setup, especially if I want to move the box to a new position, but I couldn't see any option to.My first call was a WhatsApp call to my mum, who has a fairly old Android phone.The picture quality is very good, even in a fairly dimly-lit room, and the video tracking works extremely well - actually far better than I had expected! If you move to the other side of the room, sit down, stand up, do a dance, whatever, it follows you flawlessly.When the other person turned their phone on its side, the picture filled the TV screen my end, and my picture flipped to horizontal and filled the screen their end as well - perfect!Audio quality was crystal clear both ends. The call audio comes through the TV speakers, but there is also a speaker built into the box itself. This emits the ringing signal, even when the call is being initiated from my end, which seems a bit weird.I was pleasantly surprised to find that the volume buttons on the Portal remote adjusted the volume on my TV - how it knew how to control my TV is a mystery because I never told it, but it worked somehow!My second call was another WhatsApp call, this time to a contact who has a new iPhone XR. Sadly, on this call, when they turned their phone sideways, while their picture flipped and filled my TV screen, my picture remained vertical and displayed as a pillarbox on their end. That was disappointing, but no doubt a bug that will be sorted out at some point. We flipped back and forth several times, but could not make the Portal box flip its image to horizontal.I then tried a Facebook Messenger call to the same contact, and that worked much better - when they turned their phone to horizontal, both pictures flipped to horizontal so we had full screen both ends.I have yet to try a Portal to Portal call, but I have no reason to doubt that this will work well.This box's primary function is to make video calls via a TV, and that job it does very well. I didn't try any of the other features because, frankly, I couldn't care less about them. Hopefully the landscape orientation bug will be sorted out in a future software version, then it'll be perfect.UPDATE - April 2020:Since I bought the Portal TV around 5 months ago, the software has been updated.The inset picture from your own camera is now placed in the bottom right corner of the screen instead of the top left, which is better, but I would still prefer an option to choose which corner to put the picture.There is now an option to force portrait/landscape orientation, so even though the automatic switching still doesn't work reliably, this can be manually overridden to provide a full-screen picture both ends.There is still no option to check the picture from your own camera without starting a video call to someone, but I have discovered that if you go into the "Photo Booth" app from the home screen, you can see what your camera is seeing locally without starting a call.WhatsApp does not work reliably. Incoming calls frequently don't "ring" on the Portal, and after a period of time the Portal TV will stop working altogether with WhatsApp, complaining that my phone is not connected to the Internet (it is). You then have to delete your WhatsApp account from the Portal (which triggers a confirmation code sent to WhatsApp your phone, demonstrating that it really is connected!) and then re-add it again. Of course, this loses hidden contacts list, so you have to set this up again. I've since given up on WhatsApp, and now just use the Portal TV for Facebook calls, which seem to be much more reliable.Portal-to-Portal Facebook calls work brilliantly, and the picture quality is excellent.I have tried out the Alexa functionality, and this seems to work as you would expect, but it's not a feature I use regularly.

So I had to grab the Portal TV Camera because I have a smart home with all the latest gadgets and video calling on my TV was the last thing I wanted even though I have echo shows in every room for video calls, I needed devices for messenger video calling.Now I'm not going to lie my blood does run a little cold with this being a facebook product and their record for managing user data isn't the best.So when I've got a camera and 8 microphones in the room from a company that sells advertising I'm very concerned with what information the Portal TV camera is collecting and selling to advertisers.Now setup of the camera isn't the smoothest of setups but once setup video calls are really cool and the camera keeps everyone in frame.It's like having a camera crew following you around and keeping you in shot.Now the downsides of the Portal TV Camera, instructions that come with this are rubbish, there's no usage instructions in the box.There's no HDMI cable to use it right out the box, so you'll need a spare one or you won't be using this right out the box.VOICE CONTROL DOESN'T WORK IN UKHEY PORTAL feature you see advertised on TV doesn't work on the UK version of Portal TV Camera, so you'll have to use the remote for making and taking all video calls.The last thing anyone wants is yet another remote to use in the home when a smart home should be fully voice controlled.Other than video calling which the Portal TV Camera does great, it's not good for much else, it's certainly no media player for movies.So there's no Amazon PRIME, no NETFLIX, nothing to play movies.So if you are watching anything on a Fire Stick and get a video call you'll have to locate the Portal remote to switch channels to take the call.The fact I can't shake the fact it's a fb product that has recording of HEY PORTAL audio for transcription on by default unless you turn that off, I don't trust it enough to put one in my bedroom.For the front room it's great, as a device to have in every room with a TV for me the trust isn't there with all the customer data issues the company behind it has had.As something for elderly family to use to stay in touch with family it's great, once setup you just click the contact to video call them.It is absolutely rubbish for mounting on top of a TV it isn't secure and when I tried it on top of my TV I didn't think it was secure enough to leave there.It's wide field of view lens though means you can easily have it on a side under the TV and get everyone in shot.For the price though I think it's worth it and having Alexa integration just sealed the deal for me because it means I can use the microphones to control my smart home.