Social Media
Comparing Google Home Hub vs Amazon Echo Show 2 vs Facebook Portal
The war for the countertop has begun. Google, Amazon, and Facebook all revealed their new smart displays this month. Each hopes to become the center of your internet of things-equipped home and a window to your loved ones. The $149 Google Home Hub is cheap and privacy-safe smart home controller. The $229 Amazon Echo Show 2 gives Alexa a visual complement. And the $199 Facebook Portal and $349 Portal+ offer a Smart Lens that automatically zooms in and out to keep you in frame while you video chat.
For consumers, the biggest questions to consider are how much you care about privacy, whether you really video chat, which smart home ecosystem you’re building around, and how much you want to spend.
- For the privacy obsessed, Google’s Home Hub is the only one without a camera and it’s dirt cheap at $149.
- For the privacy agnostic, Facebook’s Portal+ offers the best screen and video chat functionality
- For the chatty, Amazon Echo Show 2 can do message and video chat over Alexa, call phone numbers, and is adding Skype
If you want to go off-brand, there’s also the Lenovo Smart Display with stylish hardware in a $249 10-inch 1080p version and a $199 8-inch 720p version. And for the audiophile, there’s the $199 JBL Link View. While those hit the market earlier than the platform-owned versions we’re reviewing here, they’re not likely to benefit from the constant iteration Google, Amazon, and Facebook are working on for their tabletop screens.
Here’s a comparison of the top smart displays, including their hardware specs, unique software, killer features, and pros and cons:
-
Business7 days ago
London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups
-
Entertainment7 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg has found a new sense of style. Why?
-
Business6 days ago
Humanoid robots are learning to fall well
-
Entertainment6 days ago
2024 summer TV preview: 33 TV shows to watch this summer
-
Business5 days ago
Google Gemini: Everything you need to know about the new generative AI platform
-
Entertainment5 days ago
‘Bridgerton’: Everything you need to remember before Season 3
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Hands-on with the Claude AI app: It’s pleasant to use, but janky
-
Business6 days ago
Indian ride-hailing giant Ola cuts 180 jobs in profitability push