WEBVTT

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what's up guys check this out I've got the new Facebook portal I'm going to go

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ahead and just unbox this real quick here

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you know what hold on can I just call you back in a sec

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there we go that's better all right so this is the new second generation

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Facebook portal and the new portal minion basically they're smart video

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calling machines so it's kind of like a

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phone but not that kind of phone like that

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kind but with a video camera and then also some tablet features thrown in but

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here's the thing was anybody actually asking for this

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and if they were did they really want Facebook to be the

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one giving it to them

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foreign

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have a stellar track record when it comes to protecting user data so what

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could they possibly do to convince consumers to willingly put a Facebook

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built video camera and microphone array into their homes so like the first gen

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portal devices the 2019 portals each include both software and Hardware

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toggle switches for disconnecting the camera microphone or both then for added

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peace of mind the separate losable lens cap has been replaced by an integrated

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shutter that physically obstructs the camera a much more elegant solution the

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chassis looks more like a picture frame this time which is nice either in white

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or black making it feel more at home in a home and I guess that's an extra bonus

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for Facebook's Engineers too because this design gives them a license to

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print fat gigantic bezels which both devices definitely have the difference

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between the two models comes down solely to screen size the mini is eight inches

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while the regular is 10 inches both with a screen resolution of 1200 by 800

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that's not full HD but when paired with

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the 13 megapixel camera that's built in it's definitely enough to deliver a

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video stream that's clear enough to make out that sweet shirt your friend is

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wearing that is as long as you have a good enough network connection it's also

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enough for the portal to act as a digital picture frame many of which are

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similarly low res viewing of the portal devices does lose

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quite a bit of brightness but to their credit there's very little color shift

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regardless of whether you're using your portal in landscape or portrait mode

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which is facilitated by the somewhat odd looking yet functional stand which

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happens to house the power cable for audio the portal has a four microphone

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array with One mic on the front two on the top and one on the back and of

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course a red LED to indicate when they're Hardware disabled the mics do a

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really good job of delivering clear sound even when you walk away from the

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camera without requiring you to raise your voice or turn around to face them

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hidden within the chassis outer frame are two full range drivers accompanied

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by a two inch subwoofer on the back which altogether offer audio that we

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would describe as at least on par with other mini smart speakers in terms of

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both loudness and Clarity you can play Tunes through the native Spotify Pandora

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and I heart radio apps or you can play whatever you want on your phone if you

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pair it via Bluetooth as for i o there is a USB type-c port concealed on the

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back of the full-size model anyway this one actually has the little flap glued

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down but it's not a huge loss because it only enables beta features such as

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connecting to Ethernet and external displays and even then only through a

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short list of approved adapters I tried plugging a headphone dongle in there but

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unfortunately no dice so we're limited to Bluetooth headphones at least for now

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so then that's the what let's move on to why we could have

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possibly thought it appropriate to title this video the way we did personally I

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don't use video calling a ton because I like to multitask while I'm talking to

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people and when I'm on video they can tell that I'm looking at something else

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and doing something else so the way that I use it tends to be very utilitarian

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you know to like stick under my sink to get some pointers from a plumber friend

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or point at the Shelf to make sure that I'm getting the right Taco mix at the

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grocery store so I'm assuming you guys are probably a lot like me so when I

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said to buy this thing I honestly didn't mean for yourself to find out who the

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portal is for you really have to look no further than Facebook's own marketing

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materials which feature parents and grandparents pretty much exclusively

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and it really is kind of perfect for them parents are so busy that being able

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to be on a call while they're doing something else with their hands like

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cooking or wrangling children helps a lot and portal is simple enough that I'm

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pretty sure that even my grandma who does not have a smartphone could figure

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out how to use it the feature set is heavily aimed at families too from the

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AR filters which are not even close to as good as Snapchats to the shared

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experiences games to the story time feature portal offers a way to make

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video calls to a far away loved one interesting enough to keep the attention

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of even the smallest users which brings

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us perfectly then back to privacy because who cares if there's a camera

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cover I mean what about all the data that you are creating just by using the

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portal exactly the way that it's intended well Facebook says that all

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video calls whether they're through Messenger or Whatsapp are encrypted and

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that the company doesn't listen to view or keep your video calls nor use them

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for advertising purposes even the camera and the microphone AI Tech that keeps

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you in the frame and clear sounding As you move around the room actually runs

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locally on the device not on a remote server run by Facebook and then finally

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the camera's facial recognition doesn't identify you specifically it just

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recognizes that your face is a face unlike the Google Nest Hub which uses

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face data to create separate user profiles on that subject by the way we're

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reviewing Google's new 2019 stuff so get subscribed so you don't miss that

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so all of that sounds

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okay but collect any user data it does for

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example Facebook tracks how often you make calls and how long those calls last

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and since you can say hey portal to

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initiate and end calls Facebook also keeps recordings of your voice commands

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which you can delete from their servers but like their competitors this is a

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manual process that you'll have to remember to go back and do from time to

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time which I find pretty frustrating the important thing though is that Facebook

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might actually be learning from the terrible couple of years that they've

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had and they seem to be making an effort to be transparent about all of this

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for example the warning that your voice recordings may be reviewed by humans

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appears prominently during the device setup process and isn't buried in a wall

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of Legally is designed to dissuade you from reading it so for real then

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should you buy a Facebook portal well assuming that you are a Facebook or

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Whatsapp user and you actually make video calls to other users on those

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platforms and you see a value to making those video calls from a place where you

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can't realistically move around well Facebook has actually done a lot to

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make the portal a good value not only is it pretty good at following you around

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so that you can communicate more naturally it also has Amazon aliexa

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built in so it can do anything that an echo dot can do and it's a digital

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picture frame and all of that for the wow this is even more heavily subsidized

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than last year price of a hundred and thirty dollars for the eight inch and

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180 for the 10 inch it's by no means a perfect device it can be pretty slow the

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camera doesn't adjust properly to group call split screen situations and while

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it does have a basic internet browser for pulling up recipes or whatever it

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still has hardly any third-party app support but overall I think the portal

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is genuinely pretty good at doing what it sets out to do and it would be a

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great Christmas gift for the right person just don't buy one for me because

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I would find it about as useful as a gebo which guys if you haven't already

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seen that video it's worth a checkout even though Jibo is dead

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maybe it's even funnier now that Jibo is dead so thanks for watching guys hope

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you hope you know if you want to buy a portal we'll have that linked below with

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our affiliate link and if you don't well I'll understand that too