Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Portal from Facebook. Smart, Hands-Free Video Calling with Alexa Built-in (Gen 1)

Top positive review

This has been a life-changer

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2021

What a fantastic product! After my wife and I bought one and realised how great it was, we bought one for my mother (85 years old) and then also my father. It's superior to video chats via Skype or on the phone. Maybe because of the way the camera will adjust and follow you around if you're moving or if someone else comes into the room. Not sure. One HUGE benefit has been the ease of use for my elderly parents. You just say "Hey Portal, Call ____" and it does! At their age, my parents can't do much more than that with technology. One thing: You (and whoever you call) have to have Facebook accounts. My mother didn't have one and didn't want one. My solution was to create one for her (that she never uses and that has absolutely no information about her on it) and keep it logged-in 24/7. I also added other family members who are on FB and anyone else that I thought she might want to talk to. She doesn't need to understand any of that. All she knows is that she can say "Hey Portal, Call ____" and it does. It has been a Godsend during the pandemic.

3 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Rajat S.

Need my full money back

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2024

I paid $ 262.83 and return abecause of wrong information at description.
I got only $ 218.22 back and did not get full money back. I need all my money back.

At description it says that it wireless and it was not. You give wrong information.

1,241 total ratings, 400 with reviews

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From the United States

Sean Madden (seanmadden@hotmail.com)

This has been a life-changer

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

MichaelO

Great video, not much else, but really great video

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Videoconferencing is extremely good, interface is simple enough for folks in their 70’s to call my daughter and see their great grandson. That’s priceless. The paranoia about privacy is somewhat valid but offset by the benefit. It does Alexa, for what that’s worth - cool when it works, frustrating when it repeatedly won’t. Picture frame is nice feature. The other apps are lacking, mainly due to the platform. Screen keyboard is slow because of the angle.

It’s not a tablet, so you can’t type with your thumbs. It has no battery and it’s not portable. So it’s a lot like a baby monitor, except the video is immersively good. It’s telepresence, you’re about 30% “there”, which is amazing when you’re actuallt 2000 miles away. It was intermittently choppy at my dad’s with his spotty 1.5mbps dsl, but it always worked way better than Skype or FaceTime.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tyler B

My family absolutely loves this product

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

My family is spread out all over the country, and so I've been looking for ways to help us feel closer together. Over the years we've tried video calling from smartphones, laptops, iPads, Echo Shows.. you name it. This Christmas I went all-in and bought 3 Portals and NOTHING has been as fun or as easy as these... we love them!

- I bought one for the grandparents - PERFECT grandparent gift. Walk up, tap a photo, and you're calling.. the UX is very simple. It's the first device that has been simple enough that my grandparents feel empowered to initiate video calls.

- I bought one for my sister with young kids - they LOVE story mode and also all of the built-in effects/costumes. Picture quality seems way clearer than what we used to use (Facebook Messenger on iOS).. and selfishly I love being able to see my nieces and nephews so much more clearly.

- I bought one for my parents.. they love it. Finally they can both fit in the screen, unlike when they were always trying to awkwardly hold their iPhones in selfie mode before.

I am not affiliated with Facebook in any way, and I'll admit, I wish some other company had invented this product. But this whole thing works so well for my family because it's built on top of Facebook Messenger (which is what we already used to message each other)... and it means we can answer video calls on our phones, laptops, etc. if we're not at home and near the Portal.

Small things I wish were better:
- It has Alexa but doesn't work with the Ring doorbells
- The photo slideshow mode is ok, but didn't surface a lot of gems (personally I wish it drew from Google Photos)
- The first day she got it, my nephew went wild and called all of my sisters facebook friends.. she wishes there was a way to "lock it down" to family only
- My grandparents often can't hear their portal ringing in a multi-room house (once I had to call their phone to tell them to pick up on their Portal)

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

JDC

My 97yo Grandmother Loves It

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

My 97-year-old grandmother moved in with my aunt, 800 miles away from us, and she has been missing everyone from our area. For a long time, I had thought about getting her an Echo device like the Show so that she could at least have video calls, but it was expensive and I was worried she'd find it difficult to use. Plus, not everyone in our extended family has an Echo or is willing to download the app. What most of them do have is Facebook. So I decided to get my grandmother the Portal for Mother's Day (when it was on sale for $99). I logged into it with her Facebook account, made sure she was FB friends with everyone she'd want to talk to, and tested it out before sending it to her with my dad (who is not technologically inclined). After he figured out where to put it and how to connect the wi-fi, it's been smooth sailing. My grandmother can just click the picture of the person she wants to talk to or just say "Hey Portal, call so-and-so." And the best part is, it's like sitting on the couch with her in person and having a conversation. She loves using it for calls and asking Alexa what the weather is. (I set up Pandora radio for her, but she hasn't gotten that far yet.) She has bad vision, but the screen is large and clear enough that she can see everyone well. She can get up to get something and the camera will follow her. And when my cousin or the dog enters the room, the Portal automatically zooms out so that you can see everyone. My only regret is that I didn't get myself one at that price. It's a lot easier (and clearer) to use the hands-free Portal than to hold a phone in the air for long periods of time! I definitely recommend them.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Laura Taylor

Great camera that moves with you

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

This product is actually really impressive. My parents first got one to chat with my niece, who is a toddler and running all over the place. The camera follows her all around the room. So nuts. They got us one too so the family can all chat together at once. Great features and huge wide angle lense. We like that you can also mute the miciand camera when you're not using it. I would definitely recommend this! Makes video chatting much easier and less awkward than using your phone or iPad. I should also mention that it will zoom in on you from across the room, too. Microphone works great.

Edit: 1 yr later. I took off 1 star because it is annoying that the portal always needs to be plugged in to use. It can also be quite glitchy. There's not really a restart button. Just have to unplug and reboot. If you haven't used it for a long time, or you use it too much it's just really difficult and glitchy. Takes a bit to get it back to normal. Also when you're doing a call with multiple people it won't let you change/move your displays. The one that shows me is always blocking my family members, and if you're chatting with 3 other people one will take up half the screen and the other two each take up 1/4. It won't let you decide who takes up half the screen-- we'd always prefer it was my little neice who gets the bigger chunk. Sometimes it is sometimes it isnt.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Media Mogul

Why do you need this thing? Here's why.

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

Sure, I've got gripes with Facebook, and sure this device will be improved as time goes on-- but this thing is GOOD. I don't know how they shove a smooth, high definition image through our home wifi-- but they do. I'm very tech savvy, and I've used Facetime and Facebook Messenger on my MacBook for years-- but this is a FAR more useful experience for staying close to distance friends and relatives. The sound quality is SOOOO much better (no struggling to hear)... the image weirdly clear and sharp (how do they do that?)... and the camera follows faces and moves in automatically as you move around. Both our children live in other states-- and so we bought three units (the smaller ones) After 5 minutes--you feel like you're all in the same room. We cook together, just hang out together and the Portal takes all the urgency and formality out of videoconferencing. You're just there. The kids aren't miles away anymore.... they're right there on my kitchen counter. I'll never regret this investment.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sherri Sexton

Great - but wish it took pics

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

We are missionaries over seas and this is great to have to keep in touch with our new twin grandsons. Looking forward to doing the stories with them as they get older. We love that we can both be in the video chat and not trying to squeeze in on the phone one. I do miss the feature of being able to take pics like on the cell phone. But we love it and love the auto adjust for moving and other people coming in the frame too. I love the hands free it offers!! It helps with the time difference because usually one of us is in the middle of cooking or preparing dinner when we talk. Super thrilled with ours so far. Just got it about 3 months ago.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lora A. Rhodes

Finally a tech device that seniors can use with ease!

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

We have for years been trying to find a device that would allow us to video call with my mother-in-law who is in her 80’s. We have hit wall after wall until the Facebook Portal came along. She finally was open to it when she saw the ease of use! She was already familiar with Facebook messenger, so there was nothing really new for her to learn! The camera cover is also a great security add and brings a sense of peace to the user. We also got one for my parents (early 70’s) and they set it up by themselves and jumped right on with no issues! It is really saying something when our senior community feels at ease using the product!

As far as the call quality, if you are in good WiFi, the quality is excellent!! I would say the best feature is how the camera moves to keep the caller in focus and on camera! It is also neat how it enlarges when other people come into view! We really can’t say enough good things! I just wish we could have had this years ago! This is a game changer!

43 people found this helpful

Helpful

DiazLong Branch

Portal for christmas!

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

I was excited to get this for my mom for christmas because smart phones were to complicated for her to have video calls. The portal is basically easy for her to use. However it did not come with any manual even though it has an icon for settings. Im sure as time goes on the creators of portal will enhance some of the features it currently doesn't have. I would like to see it offer other ring tones options or like on your phone select a specific ring tone for each person on your call list. My mother sometimes is not aware she's getting a call unless she's sitting next to the portal and sees a picture of someone calling. We have enjoyed having group calls with my mom and all her 6 children. The price wasn't so bad but because you are limited what you can do it could be less. also since it isn't wireless it is annoying you have to unplug it when you move to another room in the house. Again as time goes on i'm sure the creators will enhance some features. Hope this feed back helps.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Simple system, works great but not mobile

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

I got my order that I placed for my not tech savvy relative, and tested how it works. It' simple to set up, works great for video chat for Facebook Messenger. Even those who is scared of screen would be able to enjoy doing the video chat.
It is connected to Wifi so you can actually use internet browser, though the "apps" you can install for now is pretty limited.

I did not like that you can only use Spotify app if you have for-fee membership.However, I liked that Portal is equipped with Bluetooth so you can connect your phones to play music. The speaker quality is actually pretty good.

My biggest problem is that it is not portal. Unlike mobile devices like iphone or tablet, It needs to be plugged in at all time. Finding a good location for chatting which has electronic plug near by is kind of annoying.

Overall, I think the device is good and is worth investing (especially for discounted price of around $150) if you have a relative who is scared of using other more complicated technology.

4 people found this helpful

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Portal from Facebook. Smart, Hands-Free Video Calling with Alexa Built-in (Gen 1)

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