It’s been a little over half a year since Facebook’s Portal devices hit the smart home device market. The initial launch must have been a success for the company since it’s planning to release new versions of the Portal during Fall / Winter 2019, perhaps smaller screen options to compete with the Echo Show 5.

At the moment, there’s two hardware options in the Portal lineup, the 10-inch Portal and the 15-inch Portal+. The first has a fixed 720p screen and the latter has a 1080p flatscreen on a 90 degree swivel (landscape or portrait, just like a smartphone or tablet).

The larger option also has beefed up speakers, 20W (2 tweeters, single 4 inch bass) compared to the 10w (2 drivers) on the cheaper option. Both offer a 12MP camera with a 140 degree field of view. That’s a big step up from the Echo Show (2nd gen) which only offers a 5MP camera with a 90 degree field of view.

The touchpad is very responsive on the 15-inch screen and the touch interfaces on the volume controls at the top of the device are intuitive. You can tap to the left or right of the camera to decrease or increase the volume. You can also tap above the camera to disable the camera & microphone completely. There’s also a camera privacy cover included for additional protection.

Regarding connectivity, the Portal devices support Wireless-Wi‑Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), Dual band MIMO (2.4GHz and 5GHz), and Bluetooth 4.2. It’s also an Alexa-supportted device, so you can get Amazon’s voice assistant without buying an Echo device.

Portal’s Bread & Butter: Video Calls

I’ve used plenty of video chat tools in the past (Skype, Facetime, etc…). You either sit down at your computer / laptop, prop up your phone or hold the phone in front of your face the entire time so you can move around. Ultimately, you are always in a fixed position with the camera.

The Portal is the first device that’s freed me up to wander around the kitchen, office, living room while still chatting with the person on the screen, since the smart camera follows you around. It’s actually a bit unsettling at first because you have to change your behavior. I find it really useful in the kitchen, since I’m always moving around while cooking or cleaning.

The video quality is really impressive, no dropped calls either. You can really see the difference in quality with the 12MP camera and the extra wide angle lens. Portal also automatically widens when more people enter the room, great for big families.

One cool feature is the ability to track a specific person on the video stream. You just double tap their face and the Portal on the other end will track their movements around the room. Ideal if there are pets or kids running around the room.

I’ve been using it to chat with relatives on the opposite coast. Portal to Portal calls offer the best quality, but you can basically call anyone with Facebook Messenger installed on their phone. You can conference in a total of six additional video feeds, although talking gets a little hectic with that many feeds open. Great for celebrating holidays with distant family though.

First Party Apps:

I love the Story Time app! While my nephew isn’t quite old enough to keep his attention on the story, I can tell he will enjoy it as he grows older. It basically launches you into a children’s story (like the Three Little Pigs) and animates the screen as you read along in the story. It also utilizes those face animations seen in apps like Snapchat, turning into the cartoon wolf in the story or one of the pigs.

You can really tell there was a lot of thought put into the Story App, an attempt to attract family users. My only gripe is the limited number of stories in the app. Facebook clearly needs more content for kids in addition to a way for users to purchase more stories for a few bucks.

The Facebook Watch app is ok, if you like watching Facebook videos. You can find video shared by your Facebook friends as well as popular video clips / news clips. I’ve rarely used it, mostly because I rarely use Facebook for video clips.

The Superframe option is pretty cool. You can set it you display your own Facebook photos / videos, basically acting as a screensaver. If you multiple Facebook accounts connected to the Portal, you can pull all that media content in and display a massive amount of media if you choose. The menu options are very granular, drilling down to individual photo albums.

If you don’t want to display your own photos, the Portal is loaded with a collection of scenic backgrounds to display while the Portal isn’t in use. It can also display the current weather in your area as well as birthdays of your Facebook friends.

Music Apps:

I love using Pandora and iHeartRadio to stream music. Just like a smartphone, you can launch the apps to play music in the background while browsing around in other apps. The touch interface is easy to use, ideal for quickly popping around to other artists / songs while working in the kitchen.

Facebook has also included a Spotify app, but the downside is you have to be subscribed to Spotify Premium to use it. There’s no access for the free version ion the native app. You can use Alexa to stream music from Amazon as well as pair your phone / laptop to the Portal to stream purchased music to the device.

Video Apps:

This is where the Portal hardware really starts to become unattractive compared to devices like the Echo Show or even tablets. There’s a handful of news video apps (ABC, CNN, Fox), a Watch app for Facebook videos, and a web based interface to support YouTube. that’s pretty much it. No native apps for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, etc… Even six months after launch!

That being said, you can stream Hulu videos using the Portal’s web browser. Navigating Hulu is a little slow in the browser, but streaming videos works perfectly well. Amazon Video also works using this method, but Netflix does not. You can log into Netflix and see the video previews, but the site throws up error messages when attempting to stream video.

The web-based YouTube interface is fine, but the mobile app interface would really improve the experience. It’s tough to click the play, volume buttons on the web interface on the 15-inch screen. I can’t imagine how difficult it’s going to be on the 10-inch.

Misc Apps:

I love cooking and the Portal doesn’t disappoint (if you want to use it in your kitchen). There’s a Food Network app that’s pretty good, but I really use it for YouTube walkthroughs as well as looking up new recipes on any site. It’s much easier than trying to scroll through my smartphone while in the weeds preparing dinner.

There’s a collection of gaming apps included, not particularly exciting though. Words with Friends and Draw Something are probably the most well known games. There are multiplayer board games like chess, checkers, and battleship as well as card games like gin rummy and poker. There’s also Sodoku, if a single player experience is more enticing.

Should I Buy This?

One of the biggest problems with the Portal at the moment is the price. It’s an expensive device to buy just for video calls, less expensive if you are using it for streaming all the time. While sales have brought the 10-inch model as low at $99 (MSRP: $199) and the 15-inch model as low as $249 (MSRP: $349), that’s still pretty expensive for a video call that you could do on your smartphone or tablet for free.

That being said, you are getting extremely impressive video quality during calls and a move-freely, truly hands-free solution to video chatting. If you have family all over the country (or world) and want to stay in touch with them, this is an excellent way to do it. For the price conscious, perhaps wait until the new models are launched at the end of 2019 to see discounts on the first generation models.

Facebook Portal+ Review: Amazing Video Calls, Limited App Store

The barrage of Amazon products announced at the Fall Amazon Echo event recently was pretty overwhelming. Beyond the next generation of Echo smart speakers, Amazon expanded into the Home segment with an Alexa-enabled microwave, a smart plug and the Echo Wall Clock.

We got our hands on the Echo Wall Clock this weekend. Inside, you will find the setup instructions, the 10″ Wall Clock, a four pack of Amazon AA batteries, and one wall anchor / screw for hanging the clock. The actual weight of the clock is fairly light. I tried hanging the clock on an angled penny nail in drywall and it was perfectly fine without having to use the wall anchor.

How Does It Work?

Since Alexa tech isn’t built into the clock, you will need to own an Echo device (or Echo app on your smartphone / tablet) to set it up. After installing the four AA batteries, you basically just ask your Echo device to setup the clock.

There’s a tiny blue button on the back to the clock that you push to sync. When your Echo device connects to the Echo Wall Clock (within a range of 30 feet), a LED light on the front of the clock will turn orange, then blue when setup. This is the same light that will turn on when the batteries are low or when there’s a connectivity problem with your Echo device.

The entire process took me less than two minutes. In that time, I connected to my Echo device and the hands on the clock automatically set to the correct time. If you live in a region that observes daylight savings time, you won’t have to change your clocks. Your Echo device will automatically update your clock (similar to your smartphone).

You have the ability to set multiple timers via your Echo device and those timers will show up on the clock face via bright white LED lights. A timer of 1 minute or less with light up to 60 LEDs and those will disappear as the seconds go by. A timer of more than 1 minute will light up multiple LED lights around the clock face going clockwise (each light is one minute).

If you have set several timers, you will see single lights representing each timer. For instance, setting a timer for 15 minutes and a timer for 45 minutes will light up two LED lights, one at the 3 on the clock face and the other at the 9 on the clock face. Those lights will move as the timer counts down.

There are no speakers in the clock, thus there’s no audio cue coming from the clock when your timer has finished (only a visual LED flourish at the end). The clock hands are also relatively silent, no “tick, tock” sound of a second hand obviously.

You do have to keep the clock within 30 feet of your Echo device for timer functionality (in order to connect via Bluetooth). You are also limited to connecting a single Echo device to the clock (also due to Bluetooth). Ideally, you will want the clock and Echo device in the same room, but it still works from about a room away.

How Does It Look?

I asked my wife this question and her response was one word, “Ugly.” I can’t really disagree. The build quality feels a bit cheap in my hands and the design reminds me of a classroom / office clock; not a clock that’s designed for a warm, inviting home. While the utilitarian design does make the clock easy to read / see LEDs, the black & white design is arguably boring.

The fact there’s no clear protective glass / plastic covering the face of the clock bugs me for a couple reasons. First, dust / pet hair seems to stick to the clock face, even when hanging it on the wall. Seems like you will have to clean it occasionally and carefully clean under the clock hands as well.

Second, if you move from apartment to apartment relatively frequently, you will have to protect the clock face with bubble wrap (or save the original box). It seems like the hands could be easily bent / broken in a moving box; also not ideal if you have young kids in the house & the clock in a position where they could reach it (like on a stand).

The white LED lights are probably the coolest aspect of the design, although it would have been nice to have different colors for multiple timers. I do really like the final minute of the timer, easy to spot when the LED lights are ticking away. I also like the LED flourish when the timer goes off, easily capturing your attention if you can’t hear your Echo device.

Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes.

Should You Buy This?

It really depends how much you use timers. Personally, I like using Echo timers when I cook. I can set multiple timers on my Echo in the kitchen, head into my living room where the clock is located and watch for the visual cue when my timer goes off. I could see how this would be useful with kids as well, setting visual timers for TV / video game time or perhaps even a visual timer for a time-out.

If you don’t use timers, you should probably skip this first gen version of the Echo Wall Clock. Having a wall clock that adjusts itself automatically is nice, but you are paying a premium price for a fairly cheap looking clock. I’d wait until 3rd party clock makers incorporate Alexa into their own clocks or Amazon releases a second generation of clocks with several designs. Adding a feature like a small E-Ink display for the current Day / Month would be useful on a new design, for instance.

Regarding price point, $30 is just a bit steep for this gadget. $15 – $20 seems like a solid price point based on build quality / functionality. This is the first time Amazon has released a clock, thus we have no price history to predict price drops. However, you may see sales on the Echo Wall Clock by Spring 2019, especially if third party clock makers embrace Alexa as a feature.

Check Echo Clock Price on Amazon

Echo Wall Clock Review: Great for Timers, Boring Design

If you are looking to bring a little technology into the bedroom to smarten up your home, we’ve collected a list of eight items (as well as some cheaper alternatives) that will upgrade your lifestyle. This includes upgrades both for when you are sleeping and when you are simply chilling out in the bedroom after a long day.

Philips Wake-Up Light

The Philips Wake-Up Light is a replacement for a standard alarm clock, specifically designed to use light therapy to improve sleep and overall energy levels. The sunrise simulation wakes you up slowly with simulated natural light (identical to sunlight) as well as a choice of three nature sounds.

On the flip side of the day, the dimming sunset mode will gradually decrease light at the end of the day with more than twenty different brightness settings. This type of light is really ideal for any bedroom that doesn’t get lots of natural light. It also includes standard slamar clock functions as well as a FM radio. The light generally retails for $120, but can be found on sale $90 to $100 often. 

Check Price on Amazon

Smart Ceiling Fan

In addition to a remote control as well as a mobile app for changing your fan speed / preferences, the Haiku smart ceiling fan comes with Alexa support for controlling the fan by using your voice.

Available in five different colors, the Haiku fan includes a LED light with 16 different brightness settings and has been tested to make sure each fan doesn’t wobble, rattle or click. The downside is the cost, roughly $600 to $750. It has fallen to the sub-$500 level, when on sale. 

Check Price on Amazon

Nightstand with Wireless Charging Pad & USB Ports

Ideal for anyone that needs to charge their devices overnight, this nightstand includes a built-in pad for wireless charging as well as USB ports for charging additional devices. Simply place your Qi-compatible device on the charging pad and it will charge the device without the need for any additional cords.

Charging time may vary based on the device’s battery capacity, charge level, the age of the battery and the temperature in the surrounding area. It generally retails for $70 and drops to the $50 range when on sale.

Check Price on Amazon

Motion-Activated Bed Lighting

Ideal for anyone that trips over everything on their way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, motion activated under-the-bed lighting is an ideal way to light up the floor without waking anyone else up. Using a simple motion sensor, you simply stick the LED lighting underneath the bed along the sides.

The shut off time for the lights can be set for 30 seconds up to ten minutes, easily enough time to go to and from the bathroom. The LEDs in the light strip offer up to 100,000 LED Lighting hours and will require an outlet plug. There are plenty of options on Amazon, most retailing for less than $20.

Check Price on Amazon

First Alert 2-in-1 Smoke Detector & Carbon Monoxide Alarm

Connected to your smartphone using wireless Z wave tech, the First Alert ZCOMBO Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm will send an alert if your smoke or carbon monoxide alarms are sounding. It’s certified to work with Samsung Smart Things as well as the Ring Alarm security system. It has a 85 decibel horn as well as a photoelectric smoke sensor to reduce false alarms from actions like cooking.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to replace all your smoke alarms, you could pick up something like the Ring Alarm Smoke and CO Listener, which alerts home owners when their existing smoke alarms are going off. The ZCOMBO retails for about $50, but sales bring it down between $30 to $40 regularly. The Listener retails for $35 and sales bring it down to the $25 range on occasion.

Check Price on Amazon

Frigidaire 10000 BTU Smart Window Air Conditioner

If you live in an area that doesn’t include central air in homes due to milder temperatures, it’s almost a necessity to have a window unit so you can sleep comfortably during an infrequent heat wave in the summer. Available in BTU sizes from 8,000 to 12,000 (350 sq. ft. to 550 sq. ft.), this Frigidaire window unit can be controlled via wi-Fi 

The AC unit is ENERGY STAR certified and the smart app will help control the overall room temperature & save energy similar to a smart thermostat. The base unit retails for about $330 with sales bringing the price frequently to the $300 level.

Check Price on Amazon

Withings Sleep Tracking Pad

Tracking data like deep sleep time, heart rate, and snoring, the Withing sleep tracking pad slips over your existing mattress and tracks your sleep over the night. It integrates with Alexa and offers a daily sleep tracking score with tips on how to improve your nightly slumber. It generally retails for about $100.

Check Price on Amazon

Echo Show 5

Providing access to Alexa for voice control, the Echo Show also includes a video screen, perhaps ideal for a nightstand. You can place video calls to Echo-compatible devices as well as watch video content while in bed, like YouTube videos and Amazon video content. Of course, it can also double as an alarm clock for your nightstand, showing the current time on the display. The device retails for about $90, but sales bring it down to about $50.

Check Price on Amazon

8 Smart Home Tech Upgrades for the Bedroom

While Google preps to release their Echo-competitor, Amazon has made a move that might make the Google Home family of devices obsolete before it’s even released.

Reducing the price on the Echo Dot by nearly half, Amazon has opened up orders for the tiny Dot to the public at a price of $50. That’s $40 less than the original retail MSRP of $90!

Amazon is making a play as the dominant controller of your smart home in a big way. Offering discounts on six-pack or 12-packs of Echo Dot, Amazon wants you to place Dots all over your home. This will allow everyone in your family to have access to the Alexa voice assistant all the time.

It will give all of your “dumb” speaker systems a smart connection to streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify. It will act as a alarm clock for all of your bedrooms. Assuming you have other smart home devices, it will be able to adjust the temperature, flip the lights on/off, lock the front door from any room in the house. You won’t have to do to the smart home controller anymore or even find your smartphone. You just have to speak.

Here are some of the core differences between the 1st generation and 2nd generation Echo Dot:

• Amazon has added a new, more powerful speech processor for more accurate far-field speech recognition.
• The new Echo dot is slightly shorter. It is 1.3″ tall vs. the 1.5″ on the first gen. The diameter is the same (3.3″)
• The weight has been reduced from 8.8 ounces to 5.7 ounces.
• The volume buttons now replace the volume slider that was around the top on the first gen model.
• The directional microphone holes are appear to be slashes now instead of little circles. (Identical 7-microphone array)
• The first gen had a 1 year warranty, but that’s been reduced for 90 days for the 2nd gen.
• The power indicator light on the back of the device has been removed.
• The finish around the sides is more glossy on the 2nd gen than matte on the 1st.
• The 2nd gen Echo Dot doesn’t include the 3.5 mm audio cable (4 ft.) that came with the 1st gen.
• The Amazon Dot is now available in an additional color, white.

In addition to the discounts on ordering mulitple Echo Dots, Amazon is also offering bundled discounts when packaging the Dot with smart home devices like the Philips Hue, T-P Link Smart Plug and the ecobee3 Smart Thermostat between 12 to 17 percent off. Amazon is also offering discounts with bundled Bose speakers, but buyers may want to purchase less expensive portable speaker or wait for Sonos connectivity via Alexa (coming soon).

Check out Echo Dot on Amazon

Check out more pictures of the Echo Dot 2 below as well as a video of the Dots in action. The device will be released to the public on October 20th, 2016.

Shut Up and Take My Money: $50 Echo Dot (2nd generation)

Launching at midnight Pacific time on Tuesday, July 12, Amazon will crank up another day of sales that are exclusive to Prime members. In addition, Amazon will be launching pre-sale days starting on July 7 to offer a limited preview of the sales that will be launching on Prime Day. When the sale starts at midnight, Amazon will roll out sales as quickly as every five minutes.

While Amazon hasn’t released any specific details on what will be on sale, a spokesperson for the company said “A certain deal that might seem weird to one customer might seem wonderful to another. That’s part of the fun of Prime Day — discovering these unique items.” Of course, that strategy (also used in 2015) attracted consumer disappointment and intense mockery, perhaps because Amazon claimed the day would be bigger than Black Friday.

Voice Ordering Improvements to the Amazon Echo

Amazon also announced that the product catalog for voice ordering has expanded from a handful of items into the millions as of this week. Utilizing the Alexa voice assistant with the Echo, Echo Dot or Amazon Tap, customers can place orders by using their voice and confirming the product suggestion.

Of course, the product suggestion feature is limited to Prime shipped items only. It also doesn’t factor in any clickable coupons on grocery items; consumers will still have to log into the site to attach those discounts to an order. (Here’s our breakdown on the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Amazon Tap.)

Want Ads on your Smartphone?

Taking a page from the Kindle (so to speak), Amazon has launched a couple new sales on smartphones this week that place offers and ads on the lock screen in exchange for a $50 discount on the phone. Amazon already does something similar with the Kindle, basically reducing the cost by $15 to include ads on the screen when inactive.

At the moment, these offers are limited to just a couple phones, the Moto G4 (all carriers) and the Blu RI HD (AT&T, T-Mobile). Amazon doesn’t specify if the ad-supported version can be upgraded for the removal of the ads after purchase, assuming someone doesn’t dare for the ads and offers after using the phone for a set period of time.

Don’t Forget the Amazon Sweepstakes

Similar to last year, Amazon is celebrating Amazon Prime Day again by offering up two additional promotions to win Amazon gift cards or a trip to hang out with famous musicians. To enter for a chance at $5,000 in gift cards, simply upload a single photo to the Prime Photos tool. (Unlimited storage on Prime Photos is one of the perks of Amazon Prime.)

Regarding the music sweepstakes, you basically just listen to the playlist of your favorite artist and you will be entered to win a shot at a trip to one of the artist’s concerts as well as a meet and greet. Artists in the sweeps include such artists as Blink-182, Norah Jones, Flo Rida and Carrie Underwood.

Amazon Prime Day hits July 12, Echo voice ordering gets better

Confused about all the new voice assistant gadgets that seem to be super popular on Amazon? Don’t worry, we can help you figure out which device will be best for you. Here’s a quick overview before we jump into the gritty details:

• Amazon now has 3 Alexa voice assistant devices called the Echo, the Tap and the Echo Dot. The Echo sells for $180, the Tap for $130 and the Dot for $90.
• The Echo is the flagship product in the line and the largest at 9.25 inches tall. It’s a great stationary device (requires wall outlet) and standalone speaker.
• The Tap is designed for people that want portability (9 hour battery life) and don’t mind sacrificing voice activation (replaced by touch activation).
• The Dot is designed for people that want voice activation, but have a secondary speaker system for playing music. It’s also stationary (requires wall outlet).

What can the Alexa voice assistant do?

The core selling point for all three devices is that each is tied into Amazon’s voice assistant called Alexa. Alexa offers a bevy of functions including, but not limited to:

• Playing music from Amazon Prime Music as well as streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and iHeartRadio. It also streams music from your mobile device.
• Ties into smart devices in the home to control lighting, change the temperature, turn devices on and off, etc…
• Provides detailed weather and traffic reports as well as updates on the national news and sports scores.
• Answers questions similar to using a Google search, create to-do lists and add items to shopping lists.
• Allows you to place orders on Amazon for products that have been previously ordered.
• Ties into third-party companies like Uber and Dominos in order to place orders for specific products or services.

Amazon Alexa doesn’t cost anything to access. There are no monthly subscription fees. You only have to pay for an Alexa-enabled device up front, which is as cheap at $90 at this point.

Should I Buy the Amazon Echo?

The Amazon Echo is a great device if you have multiple people in your family and want to put it in a central point in the home so everyone can use it. However, it’s a stationary device and will require a wall outlet. The speaker offers 360 degree sound sporting a 2.5 inch woofer and 2.0 inch tweeter. It can connect over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Should I Buy the Amazon Tap?

The Amazon Tap is ideal if you need portability, ideal for taking it out into the backyard or on vacation. It’s about half the weight of the Echo and smaller at just 6.2 inches tall. However, the speakers are smaller as well; dual 1.5-inch drivers. If offers up to nine hours of playback on the full charge (three week standby time).

You won’t have access to voice activation though. To access Alexa, you will need to tap the microphone button on the front before issuing a command. It comes in six difference colors and comes with a charging cradle.

Should I Buy the Amazon Echo Dot?

The Amazon Echo Dot will be useful for people that have invested in existing speaker systems, but want the Alexa voice assistant capabilities. The cheaper cost could be useful for anyone that wants to expand Alexa coverage into multiple rooms of a home.

It’s stationary (requires wall outlet) and connects to your speakers over wireless or a wired 3.5 mm audio cable. If the device isn’t connected to speakers, there’s a small speaker in the device to provide Alexa voice feedback.

Will These Devices Help Me Get Deals?

Possibly. Amazon has been aggressive on rolling out Prime exclusive prices to customers over the last 12-months, thus it’s not out of the range of possibility that Amazon will run promotions on orders places using the Alexa voice assistant. Watch the Ben’s deal feed for announcements as those deals pop up.

Check Price of Echo, Tap, Dot on Amazon

Amazon Echo vs Amazon Tap vs Echo Dot: Gadgets Explained