Facebook’s Portal video chat device will launch next week

Getty

• Facebook is planning to unveil its long-awaited video
  chat device “Portal” next week,
  Cheddar reports.
• “Portal” will reportedly function similarly to Amazon
  Echo, and cost between $300 and $400 depending on
  size.
• This will mark the first device to come out of
  Facebook’s Building 8 hardware lab.

Facebook will launch “Portal,” its long-awaited video chat device
next week,
Cheddar reports.

Reports emerged that
Facebook was working on a video chat device codenamed “Aloha”
in 2017, and now it seems its plans are coming to fruition.

“Portal” will come in two sizes, and anonymous sources told
Cheddar that the smaller size will come with price tag of around
$300, while the larger will cost $400.

The hardware will work a little like the Echo Show, according to
Cheddar, Amazon’s video-enabled smart speaker. It will come with
an artificial intelligence-enabled camera, that will recognise
people within its view and follow them as they move around. That
camera will also have a privacy shutter, reportedly developed to
combat any privacy concerns.

Facebook’s Portal device
will reportedly look like Amazon’s Echo Show, pictured
here.
Matt Weinberger/Business
Insider

The Portal device will also work with Amazon’s smart assistant
Alexa, play music and videos, and give users the news.

Facebook had
planned to announce the device at its F8 developer conference in
May, but reportedly delayed the announcement at the last
minute due to the high-profile scandals of Cambridge Analytica
and Russian election interference on the platform.

This will be the first piece of hardware to make it out of

Facebook’s hardware lab Building 8, which has touted projects
like cameras, drones and brain-scanning technology.

Business Insider contacted Facebook for comment.