Facebook’s Portal video chat devices launch today

Facebook’s home video chat devices, the Portal and Portal Plus, are going on sale today, a month after they were initially announced.

The products are almost exclusively focused on video chatting. While they also display photos, play music, and support a small number of video networks, their feature set is very limited at launch — you can’t even browse Facebook on them.

You’re primarily meant to use them to chat with people over Facebook Messenger, and Facebook has built in some smart camera tricks to make that easier. Both devices have a single, fixed camera at the top, but the camera will zoom in and follow you around, so that you don’t have to hold a phone up to your face while you’re chatting. That way, you can move throughout a room…

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/11/8/18073176/facebook-portal-price-availability-now-shipping