Facebook Portal Mini - Smart Video Calling 8” Touch Screen Display with Alexa - White

Bought this for my 76-year-old mother. Have been looking for a completely foolproof way to do calls and video-conferencing with her. After countless devices thru the years, I can say that I finally found it. The interface is really streamlined and (almost completely) foolproof. With the WhatsApp and messenger accounts properly set up, she simply has to touch on the favorite contacts that rest right on the front screen. One tap to call, one tap to pickup. Cant beat that! If for some reason gets out of the main screen (not as easy to happen as in an iPad) or whatever, its (mostly) simple for her to get back to square 0. After several months it never had any problem (i.e. logging out, or asking for the user to validate options or updates, that would be an issue for my mother to deal with). For someone that lives far away from their parents, you can understand how this is gold! It beats the iPad (that she also has but barely uses, and is still a continuous training) that ends up having too many possibilities. Same for Alexas devices that end up having too many options and quickly she can get lost or complicated for someone not used to UXs and smart devices. Aside from the simplicity of the interface, the camera picture qualify is great and the speakers are pretty acceptable. The auto-zoom feature is very useful, however, dont expect this to be like Facetime in your face. The device has some other possibilities and an app store. Facebook is trying to add more apps to it, but frankly, it seems pretty limited still. It is a shame because it is a very powerful VC device. It has already the GoToMeeting app, and would be great if they could add Zoom. Privacy concerns are warranted. The best you can do is use the physical latch to cover the camera (that also is supposed to shut down the mic). But that is a trade-off that I accepted with my mothers device. I got the Portal TV for my own house (and use the latch) and I am waiting for WhatsApp to release the multi-device feature to buy another one for my Mother. If you want an easy, comfortable efficient way to do Video-conferencing, you use WhatsApp and/or Messenger, this is a great device!

Update 4/19/21: Ive had this thing now for just about a year. Its awful. It is still one of the worst pieces of electronics that ive ever had the displeasure of using. Constant freezing, crashing, glitches...its awful. still highly recommend not buying. I bought this for work - we use it to train with and it sucks. I hate this product. Its glitchy, slow, and clunky. There is no way to clear the cache, cookies, history, or anything so I end up unplugging and plugging back in (because of course there is no power or restart button). Sometimes it wont register that Ive slid the little video/audio slide aside and says I dont have access to unmute or show video without me having to restart the whole thing...just dont even bother. Honestly, there are way better products. Or just buy a nice webcam and use other apps on your laptop/computer/phone/tablet. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

I keep this in my kitchen, great for music, Youtube videos, Whats ap chats and so much more. I bought one for my Mom for Christmas and my husband bought one for me. Great gifts!! We love them!

Awesome buy. Very nice. Truly handy.

Love it

Bought for my parents who aren’t too tech Savvy. They love it! We have never had a problem, it’s always been crystal clear.

Excellent product.

I bought this to video chat with my nephew but it has been great for so much more. I love being able to read interactive stories to him when we chat and the call quality is great. We have also been using it to listen to spotify and watch You Tube and more

I do give a positive review because it greatly improves the viewing experience over a cell phone. I bought four of these minis to connect with our whole family. I do not like that it does not have a battery. At least they could offer a connection to connect an external battery if you want to move around the house at all. We also have a problem that it keeps cutting out on all our connections sporadically. The day after I bought these they discounted them by $40 each. Customer service said they would credit me the difference but they never did. But, again, over all experience connecting with the family is positive.

The portal provides good video and audio quality. You can even do silly effects with your face. The one gripe I have is that scanning the device using my camera doesnt work. It will not recognize scan code. We got as a gift but if problems persists will give it back.