Facebook unveils second-gen 10-inch Portal for $179, and 8-inch Portal Mini for $129, with WhatsApp call support, picture-in-picture viewing, and Prime Video
by default and without an opt-out — and sending them to contractors to transcribe. It paused that last month, but is soon resuming it with an opt-out. Great reporting by @KurtWagner8. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : Facebook paused having staff/contractors listen to audio clips from Portal devices—which it hadn't disclosed, or not clearly. Now it's restarting the human review, but with disclosure and more control. So yay, I guess? https://www.bloomberg.com/... See also Mediagazer
The VergeNick Statt
Context & Ripple Effects
A year after Facebook's $199 Portal and $349 Portal+ debut, the second generation reprices the line downmarket: a 10-inch Portal at $179 and a new 8-inch Portal Mini at $129, with WhatsApp calling, picture-in-picture viewing, and Prime Video added. The same day, Facebook also launched Portal TV at $149, stretching the lineup from countertop screen to living-room television.
First-order effects
Buyers get a $20 cheaper flagship and a $70-cheaper entry point than the 2018 lineup, with WhatsApp support widening the device's callable base beyond Messenger users.
The Bloomberg reporting bundled with the launch means Portal owners get disclosure and an opt-out as Facebook resumes sending audio clips from the devices to contractors for transcription, after last month's pause.
Second-order effects
The $129–$179 price band puts Portal directly against Amazon and Google's smart displays, where Facebook is competing partly on messaging reach and Alexa integration rather than a services ecosystem.
Portal TV's $149 price point pulls video calling into the television, forcing the comparison for Facebook to shift from 'another screen in the kitchen' to a living-room accessory.
Third-order effects
If the review findings and the opt-out become the template, ambient home hardware from social companies will be judged on surveillance disclosure as much as on specs — a trust tax that Facebook's pricing has to buy down.
The 2019 review's complaints about limited streaming and weak music sound point to the structural problem: Facebook's hardware line survives only if it keeps adding third-party services faster than rivals, which is the pattern the 2021 Portal Go refresh continued.
The trend: Facebook is expanding Portal downmarket and into the living room on price and messaging reach, while privacy disclosures become the recurring tax on its home-hardware ambitions.
Aka not only does our app record and track everything you say on a daily basis and store it in a server farm in Utah, we are now going to illegally record you 24/7 in your household and you won't know it. #DeleteFacebook shits scary https://twitter.com/...
Casual reminder that the CEO of Facebook puts electric tape over his own webcam. If you give Facebook access to a camera in your living room, you're out of your goddamn mind. https://www.theguardian.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Not defending Facebook here, especially because opt-in seems to be the way politically things are headed after how Apple handled Siri, but at least FB doesn't bury the opt-out option. @boztank told me it'll be part of the setup process now. Small progress is still progress https:…
This is why people don't trust tech companies. “We know it makes you uncomfortable, but we're gonna do it anyway. So you should totally buy our listening devices.” Combined with “We promise not to do a scary privacy-related thing without telling you... again. Cross our hearts.” h…
Facebook has been storing all your ‘Hey Portal’ voice commands — by default and without an opt-out — and sending them to contractors to transcribe. It paused that last month, but is soon resuming it with an opt-out. Great reporting by @KurtWagner8. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Facebook paused having staff/contractors listen to audio clips from Portal devices—which it hadn't disclosed, or not clearly. Now it's restarting the human review, but with disclosure and more control. So yay, I guess? https://www.bloomberg.com/...