Facebook is adding a web browser and Instant Games to Portal video chat devices
Facebook is adding a web browser and Instant Games to Portal video chat devices
A new update out today for Facebook’s Portal devices adds some much-needed points to the dedicated video chat screens. Now, both the smaller, standard Portal and the large Portal+ model will be in a position to access the net through a custom-built browser. That opens up the gadgets to a suited model of YouTube and any variety of different news and entertainment sites. (Portal should access YouTube before, but solely its rudimentary clever TV version.) In addition to a browser, Facebook is additionally launching support for its Instant Games platform on Portal, beginning with titles like Battleship and Words with Friends.
This update goes a long way in supporting reposition Portal as no longer just a standalone video chat machine and greater in line with a proper Amazon Echo Show and Google Home Hub. When Portal was first introduced in October, the device didn’t have lots of a motive to exist past giving Facebook a way to try its hand at hardware. But the variety of humans who apparently feel satisfied bringing a Facebook camera and microphone into their homes seemed slim, specifically after reviewers generally panned it for its complete lack of feature guide and third-party apps.
Now, with a proper browser and Instant Games support, Portal sounds like a much extra viable smart home device. The device still has a long way to go before it can rightfully rival an Amazon or Google product — there’s still no Netflix, and you can’t even browse your Facebook feed on it. But these points will virtually make it greater attractive to everybody who would possibly have been on the fence before, even though that category of consumer might be rare.
Facebook has a few different elements bundled in with this update. It’s worked with CNN and NBC News to deliver the documentary and quick movie series Great Big Story to Portal, starting with what Facebook says is “a library of compelling human interest stories.” There’s also a new guide mode for the Portal camera, some new AR effects for video calls, in-call track sharing by means of iHeartRadio (Portal also supports standard Spotify and Pandora playback), and a new nickname calling characteristic that will let you use custom names for household members, like mother or brother, that are based on your relationships established via Facebook profiles.
CHAT DEVICE
Now, with a proper browser and Instant Games support, Portal sounds like a much extra viable smart home device. The device still has a long way to go before it can rightfully rival an Amazon or Google product — there’s still no Netflix, and you can’t even browse your Facebook feed on it. But these points will virtually make it greater attractive to everybody who would possibly have been on the fence before, even though that category of consumer might be rare.
Facebook has a few different elements bundled in with this update. It’s worked with CNN and NBC News to deliver the documentary and quick movie series Great Big Story to Portal, starting with what Facebook says is “a library of compelling human interest stories.” There’s also a new guide mode for the Portal camera, some new AR effects for video calls, in-call track sharing by means of iHeartRadio (Portal also supports standard Spotify and Pandora playback), and a new nickname calling characteristic that will let you use custom names for household members, like mother or brother, that are based on your relationships established via Facebook profiles.
FACEBOOK I MAKING PORTAL
MORE THAN JUST A VIDEO
MORE THAN JUST A VIDEO
CHAT DEVICE
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