Facebook is reportedly planning to reveal its ‘Portal’ video chat device for the home next week.
According to financial publication Cheddar, the device will act similarly to the Amazon Echo Show. Additionally, it will come in two size variants, with a small and large screen.
Facebook planned to reveal the device at its F8 developer conference in May. However, the company held off due to data privacy scrutiny.
Cheddar also revealed that the Portal device will feature a privacy shutter now. Portal will come equipped with a wide-angle video camera that can recognize people with AI and follow them around the room.
The idea is to use that feature to enable easy video chatting. However, there are some understandable privacy concerns about a camera watching your every move. Instead, Facebook chose to add a shutter that would close over the camera when not in use.
Finally, Cheddar learned that the device could be priced around $400 USD for the large variant and $300 USD for the small one.
Along with it’s AI camera, the Portal device will reportedly feature Amazon Alexa integration. It will be the first foray into consumer hardware for Facebook, outside of Oculus, which the social network acquired in 2014 for $2 billion USD.
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