Facebook is going to enter the home device market this year with its first device named “Portal”. This device is notably a video chat product from Facebook.
According to the sources, this product is from Facebook’s Secretive Building 8 Lab which is well known for their top-secret projects.
Facebook’s Portal is slightly similar to Amazon’s Echo Show. Reportedly, the device will feature a 13-15 inch screen alike Amazon’s Echo Show and a camera with wide angle lens, speakers with artificial intelligence technology and microphone.
In order to make it easy for the users to connect to their Facebook accounts, the company additionally added facial-recognition technology that would recognize individual faces and associate them with their respective Facebook accounts.
Alike Amazon’s Echo Show, The Facebook’s Portal comes with third-party streaming services like Netflix and Spotify such that it enables the users to play music, movies and TV shows.
According to Cheddar reports, “The device is designed to work in the home and represents Facebook’s first serious foray into selling consumer hardware, people familiar with the matter said.”
Facebook plans to price the device at $499 and intends to pitch Portal as a way for friends and family to stay connected through video calls and other features rather than making profits out of the product.
This device is mainly intended for indoor use and will be controlled by voice commands.
The device is likely to be launched at Facebook’s Annual F8 Developer Conference in May. Facebook is looking forward to releasing the device in stores by half of 2018.
