Meta - Portal Go - Portable Smart Video Calling 10” Touch Screen with Battery and Bluetooth Speaker - Light Grey

This is very good for video calling. Sound battery screen everything is good quality. Portability is the best feature. Battery life is good. Sound is also good

I love the Meta Portal Go. During the pandemic i had the original portal that i used almost everyday, the problem is i could only stay in one location...This changes the game. Recharges and easy to use to move from room to room when talking to friends and family. I love that it also has Alexa to listen to music and news.

Great video call device and youtube watching. A plus for being able to move around easily... it's a bit short on the battery side so have to leave it charging almost whenever finished the call, though on plus side, it does charge up quickly... Got it at sale price so it's a good value. I wouldn't buy at original price as I think it's expensive for a device to do video call + youtube

Hands down a great device! I love the fact it is portable, cable free and it zooms in on you as you walk and talk during a video call. Another plus is the option to call your portal (it pretty much works like a land line) and you can communicate with whoever is at home. Voice command has worked pretty well so far.

Great device to call family members. I use it for video calls for work and personal. Free up my phone and iPad. Wish there were more apps but it’s fine.

The Portal Go, by Facebook (now Meta), seems to land somewhere between a digital assistant and a great way to stay in touch with your loved ones. I was curious to see how the “Alexa” feature worked and was pleasantly surprised with the performance. In the box, you’ll find the Portal Go and a dock for charging. Powering on the device for the first time, and you’re welcomed with setup, where you’ll need to sign into your Facebook account to pair the device. There was also an update that was applied once it was connected to the internet. Overall setup time was around 10 minutes with the update installation being the longer duration of the process. I was also surprised to see that it included the ability to sign in or pair with your WhatsApp, Workplace, and a few other accounts. The camera also had a slide over cover, which would also display a camera off icon in the status area. If you’re using the Portal as an overall home device, you can also enable a household feature, which allows everyone to use the device without worrying about your personal profile’s privacy. You can still go back to your personal profile on the device, and secure access with a Pin. The included apps are limited, compared to other smart featured displays, and some features require the use of the built-in browser. The browser, however, was quite responsive and handled most websites without issue. This Is where you benefit setting up Alexa on your Portal. It had access to pretty much every skill I already have enabled in my Alexa Smart Skills. When using Alexa, you’ll hear the familiar Alexa voice, and she responds in similar ways to one of Amazon’s display devices. I was able to use the same commands to call on familiar smart home triggers, and even call up my Alexa enabled cameras, including my doorbell. The 10-inch screen is clear, easy to see, and goes into a sleep state when not actively in use. You can also turn your Portal go into a digital photo display, by selecting specific Facebook, Instagram, or phone photos in settings. I can see families using this feature to display a gallery of photos, which look great on the larger display. Otherwise, you can continue using the built-in screensaver, which cycles through curated art photos and nature backdrops. The Portal voice commands themselves can look up information and be used to start video calls with those on your Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp contact list. I found using the built-in call features pleasant, and my family loved the pan feature. My niece had me walk back and forth just to watch the camera follow me in either direction. The biggest feature is the ability to take the Portal with you, around your home, and use the device to watch YouTube videos, join video calls, or listen to your Spotify account. The built-in browser can be used to browse most websites, and the touch keyboard was responsive when needed for type entries. The battery charge lasts upwards of 8 hours, and in my use did require placing on the charger at around 7 hours of extended Spotify and a few facebook messenger video chats. In case you’re wondering, I was able to have up to 8 people on a group video call with Messenger. To charge the Portal Go, you simply place the device on the charging dock, which fits in the small cut out on the bottom of the Portal device. I can’t recall a single time where I had to re-adjust the charging dock to make sure the device was charging with an audible tone confirming charging has started. The speakers are clear, plenty loud, with most bass sounding as expected for a device like this. Listening to music, watching video content or taking video calls are a great experience, and the speakers perform well overall. I found setting the volume at midway was more than enough for most purposes. Call quality was clear, with minimal buffering on my Wi-Fi network. The small cut out handle makes carrying and moving the device easy. It has a similar weight to holding a large tablet or laptop. If you’re worried about the microphone being on the entire time, you can simply tap the small circle/mute button on the top, and you’ll see a small red LED light turn on. There is also a small notification on the screen that confirms the mute setting. The battery charge is easy to see at any point, with it being displayed in the status area of the screen. If you’re using this as a personal device, you’ll see your current Facebook profile photo, your most used apps, your selected favorite contacts list. If you’re using additional apps, you’ll be able to scroll down the screen to perform actions like playing one of your Spotify shortcuts or read through some “how to” tips to use on your Portal Go. Using your location, it even shows you a summary of the current weather, just below the clock. If you want to see a forecast for the day, you’ll find some limitations, such as, only being able to show you a day by day forecast vs a summarized week. So, who is this Portal Go for? I’d say this is a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Especially if you’re all connected on any of the available apps you can use on the device. You will need to pair this to your Facebook account but do have choice to limit the use of your voice data; even having the ability to delete voice captures. Using Alexa is a familiar process, performing most (if not all) smart skills enabled through the Alexa app. There is added security settings to ensure your device remains locked when not in use, such as requiring the use of a lock code, or even limiting to general use by an entire household. You can have multiple profiles, all with their own login sessions for all the various apps. The “Hey Portal” feature is great for hands free calling, getting simple weather updates, or starting your selected music app. I should clarify that your friends and family don’t need to use a Portal to receive a call from you, they just need to be using one of the supported Apps. Ultimately, this is a well-rounded device for staying connected with friends, family, or even attending work meetings on any of the apps compatible with the Portal Go. The browser allows access to most websites, with basic browsing capabilities, like reading up on additional news or multimedia websites. I was pleasantly surprised with the included Alexa support, with the ability to use all the same voice commands and access the same camera streaming skills I was already using on my previous smart display. Given the greater desire to stay connected with loved ones or colleagues and assuming you’re using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Zoom this is an easy recommendation. You'll be disappointed if you're wanting a similar experience to an Amazon device, but happy to know that the voice commands and skills all seem to work.

Excellent sound and screen viewing! Just ask Alexa anything.

CALLING: This comes to no surprise to anyone. But the bread and butter of this device is video calls. It has a 13-megapixel front facing camera that automatically zooms in and pans according to whomever is the in frame. It has a privacy slider that goes over the camera when you don’t want to be seen. Along with a physical button on the top to turn off the microphone. All of this is much appreciated as I like to feign privacy at the very least. It has a four-microphone array with 360-degree pickup. It does a great job at this, and my voice sounded good to the people I talked to. It has two speakers (one on each side of the device) that provide good sound during calls, when watching media, or listening to music. I really like that you can simply lift it off the charging base and you’re portable able to go wherever you want with it. With the base you can also go hand’s free which I like a lot. I found no issues with the battery life. It works with multiple call applications. But is still VERY limited in that degree. I’m hopeful they will add more. You can access a lot of these via the touchscreen or through voice commands by saying “Hey Portal”. Which I like. With it being part of Facebook, you need a Facebook account or What’s App account to get it setup. Due to this I would have figured it would have more Facebook features. Such as a dedicated Facebook App and Messenger capability (through text over just video). Instead, you need to go in through the browser to access these. If you’re buying this primarily for calling people, it does a great job at it. SMART HOME: Personally, I was more interested in making this a hub to be able to control my smart home with the ability to call people on the side. For that I’m left semi-disappointed. Mostly because the Qualcomm 605 processor is just plan slow for 2021. A lot of that is because I’m spoiled by having the privilege of using fast processors in most of my other devices. So, take that with a bit of salt. I found that you can control anything that is compatible with Alexa by either physically going into the Alexa App on the device or by using the “Hey Alexa” voice command. It does a great job turning on/off lights and routines. However, when I tried to connect to my Smart Cameras it would often get hung up and fail. Despite having a good internet connection. I also found it frustrating that they don’t have dedicated apps for Hue, LifX, etc. and instead I had to go through the Alexa App (which is very limited) or through voice commands (which has more options but is dependent on saying the right things and actually speaking which makes it no different than a cheaper version such as an Echo device). What I like a lot though is any of the “Hey Alexa” questions will bring up information on what it found. Such as “Hey Alexa define Onomatopoeia” will bring up the word, how you say it, and the definitions. Or if you ask the capital of somewhere it will bring up more information on that such as location and population size. Same with the weather. That aspect I like a lot. But I would like to see more smart apps featured and the ability to have shortcuts so I can quickly access them (turn on/off lights, set timers, change colors, set scenes, etc) to use this device as a remote and make it more of a center staple over just a calling device. When listening to music or media it provided good sound quality. But nothing that blew my socks off. If you are using it as a bedside clock it does a good job and you have the ability to go into night mode and turn off the screen. I don’t have another “Screen Version” of Alexa to compare but I don’t know what would make this device more competitive over that one or one from Google. BUILD QUALITY: This thing has great build quality. It is a bit heavy. Which is a good thing. As when you are touching the device you don’t want it to tip over. It has a 1280x800 LCD screen which isn’t the best resolution. But don’t let that stop you as colors are mostly accurate and punchy (I’d guess an 8-bit panel) with good white point and crushed blacks. It gets bright enough. As mentioned previously the speakers sound good and can get plenty loud. It has relatively large bezels and the back of the device is covered in fabric. I like the fabric design a lot. Also, the carrying handle is comfortable and easy to grab. The camera cover moves back and forth easily and without issue. The buttons feel nice to press. Touch screen is responsive and feels good to use. But isn’t nearly as nice as my iPhones. The gestures (or really lack thereof) can be a bit frustrating. BROWSER: This has a fully functioning browser. Which means you can do whatever you want on it including signing into Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, etc. It is running a modified version of Android. So, if you don’t have access to a specific app, you can usually just go to the website and access it that way. Making this a slow pseudo tablet. Which is awesome. I do hope they add a lot more apps though. As right now it is EXTREMELY limited, and I feel like I’ve stepped back into 2010. CONCLUSION: This device has a lot of potential but currently to me feels half-baked for anything other than video calling. I think to make it something really special they need to add a lot more apps, better smart home features, and a faster processor. As I constantly felt like I was using a dated old device from 2010. As the UI is basic, slow, and limited in what it can do just like devices were back then. It is also limited in gestures which seems foreign in 2021. The touch screen while responsive can feel a bit cheap at times. Screen resolution is on the lower end but has good colors and contrast (which are more important). If they switched out the processor and loaded up a new updated OS this thing could be the bee’s knee’s. Until that time the only people I recommend buy it are those who are deep into the Alexa/Facebook ecosystem who do a lot of calling. As I wouldn’t buy it for anything other than calls as I think there are better devices out there for that.