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Why Facebook Portal is one of my favorite tech gadgets of 2018 despite all the backlash

Jennifer Jolly
Special to USA TODAY
The smaller Facebook Portal doesn't have a great speaker, but for video calling it's still useful.

One of my favorite gadgets from all of 2018 is Facebook’s Portal Plus. That’s right, I said it.

As controversial as it is to "like" anything out of Facebook right now, the Portal delivers far superior video chat to everything that’s come before it, including FaceTime, Skype, and Google Duo.

I’ve been using it for just over a month now and for once, it’s exactly like what you see in their commercials. You plug it in, connect it to your Facebook account and then either tap it — or tell it — to call a particular person you’re already connected with on Facebook.

After a few rings, you’re looking at your loved one through a clear, crisp, you really do feel-like-you’re-in-the-room-with-them camera. If you move around the room, the camera follows you, zooming in or out along the way.

To build a gadget that so achieves this superior level of video-calling alone for a reasonable price, deserves a look, even if you’re too creeped out by the company’s string of privacy issues to buy it yourself.

I save year-round to buy a few of the year's best gadgets. In the past, I've spent my own hard-earned money on bests like the Aura smart photo frame, Lumos smart bike helmet, Peloton exercise bike, and pretty much every new Apple gadget that comes along.

This year already, I've bought three Portals so far: The Portal Plus (15.6-inch screen with a 1080p resolution, $349) for my house, and the Portal (10.1- inch screen with a 720p resolution, $199) for my parents and my mother-in-law. It’s nothing short of life-changing for connecting with them, especially my mother-in-law since her husband of 57-years just recently passed away.

More:Facebook tops our 2018 Tech Turkey of the year list

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We’ve tried a lot of other smart gadgets with her specifically over the years, but this is finally simple enough to be really hassle-free. It's a great gadget for someone who uses Facebook and even more specifically, Messenger, as a primary way to communicate with friends and family.

It's was wonderful for us to "be" together over Thanksgiving and we plan to use it throughout the remainder of the holidays to stream family events and make sure she knows she's not alone. We've also used it with my step-son who's in the Air Force stationed in Alaska and just went through that big Earthquake in Anchorage. FaceTime pales in comparison.

I admit I was among the masses who said, “oh hell no,” at the very idea of putting a Facebook-connected camera and microphone in my own home.

My private Facebook account information, that I locked down with every Facebook security tool possible, was among the 30 million compromised by the latest breach this past September.

Facebook’s glossed-over response that basically told users to “do nothing” was even more frustrating. But I didn’t delete my Facebook account, because it’s still an insanely useful way for me to keep in touch with my friends and family around the globe.

When in doubt, turn it off

On the Portal products, the “Camera and Microphone Off” button turns both features off, lets you cover the camera lens, and offers you the chance to set up a four-to-12-digit passcode. A red light next to the lens indicates the camera and microphone are off.

My other solution for ensuring my privacy, not just with Portal but with all of my connected devices? I unplug them. And that’s what I’ve been doing between Portal calls too.

Why Facebook says its device is 'safe'

In an email, Vice President of the Portal team Rafa Camargo responded to my privacy questions by noting that Portal gathers the same information “as when you use Facebook products on your other devices,” such as how often you use a certain feature or app, as a way to deliver specific ads to your newsfeed.

He also noted on a Facebook blog post that “Facebook does not listen to, view or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. This means nothing you say on a Portal video call is accessed by Facebook or used for advertising. Portal video calls are encrypted, so your calls are secure. Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t identify who you are.”

I get why this gadget is considered a tech turkey, and it’s unfortunate. If Apple had come out with it, it would be the shining example of truly next-generation video calling. As it stands, Facebook as a company has a long way to go to earn my trust back. Until then, kudos on one of the best gadgets of the year — whether you’re willing to use Portal to call home about it or not. 

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at jj@techish.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenniferJolly.

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