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HomeTechnologyFacebook announces Portal, an Echo Show rival focused on video chat

Facebook announces Portal, an Echo Show rival focused on video chat

The Facebook has been going through immense pressure because of its latest data breach reports. Amidst all the turmoil, the company is looking to introduce a product that aims to bring into your living room, a camera and a microphone. The products, named to be Facebook Portal, and the better version of the same, Portal Plus, are expected to be smart displays solely focused on providing video chatting services.

The portals are the first ever hardware products to be launched under the banner of the Facebook brand. The product can be used for calling other Portal users, or anyone else who has access to Facebook and Facebook Messenger. What’s more interesting is that these Portals can be used to play music through Pandora and Spotify. It can also stream video through Facebook Watch. However, Portals are intended for limited usage, as you won’t be able to browse Facebook, using this hardware.

In terms of similarities, the smaller version of Portal resembles the Amazon’s Echo show. In comparison, the bigger Portal appears to be a device that can confirm your food order at any restaurant. Portal Plus, which is the larger version, is set to gain attention no matter where you place it. It is expected to work best in your living room, as compared to the smaller one that has the ability to blend into your drawing room, similar to a countertop TV.

The Portals have been designed to simplify your video chatting experience, as it has a wide-angle camera, which is extremely capable of identifying your body. That helps it to track you as you make movements around your room. Using the portal can make your chatting experience extremely comfortable as you do not require to hold a phone up to your face everytime you want to chat. In fact, Facebook claims that the Portal has been designed to promote the sense of sharing a big room with people you’re chatting with. The company also consider the device to provide users an experience of augmented reality while chatting.

One of the biggest advantages of the Portal system is that the user would not require to hold anything. Whenever a chat session starts, the device’s inbuilt camera would automatically locate people inside the room, keeping them in a frame all the time. In case, there are multiple people in a room, the camera would use its wide angle lens to fit all of them inside the frame. Comparatively, if there’s only one person in the room, the camera would focus on their face, removing the hassles of manual customization of camera settings. Facebook has claimed that this particular feature would make the process of video chatting a more natural experience.

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