Meta PortalGo - Portable Smart Video Calling 10” Touch Screen with Battery

Needed this to do video Bible studies. Uses Facebook Messenger but you can also Zoom.

This updates my first review about buying from this seller. This came with someone else's Facebook profile on it. To reset or add a profile, it asked me to enter the person's FB password which I don't have. I tried the other ways to reset: turning off, hitting up and down volume buttons simultaneously while putting it on the charger. The first time reset came up and I selected it, but when it powered up it still had the other profile. One of the times it reset but came up with the screen in the photo and that was no good. After about the fifth time resetting it, I got the actual start up screen and then things went OK. It does work fine.I know it is used and the price was very good and it came quickly and well packed in the original box, but if someone gets one of these and doesn't know how to reset without the password, they might have problems.There was nothing in the product description that indicated it had a profile on it. I don't know if this one slipped by the seller, or whether the seller routinely sells products with other people's profiles. Just beware.The Portals are great for communicating with someone who doesn't have access to a cell phone or can't use one, and have limited use of their hands but can give verbal prompts. We have a family member like that and this is the only way to keep in touch. Works well with people who don't like or can't use computers and want something simple.I'm sorry Meta (Facebook) has decided not to support this product line and no more are being made so I'm buying up extras.

I cannot explain my frustration just trying to have a simple conversation with my parents via video chat. We live several states apart now and I miss my parents. We have hound, active children and I do not have time to sit and wait while they argue over who’s computer/tablet/phone/video chat app they will use to chat with us. It drives me insane to go through this with every conversation. I’m not kidding, we establish ground rules and what device/chat app will be used and then they forget and we go through it all over again like we’re stuck in a never ending loop.Enter the Meta Portal Go.I did a lot of searching, just trying to find something easy to set up that has very limited function and restricts what can be downloaded onto it. The perk is that this device is Mobil and also pans and zooms in and out on people onscreen. So I can set this device on the counter, call my parents on it and get to work cooking, chasing kids, whatever and still hold a convo without having to apologize constantly. Not once have any of us said “what?” or “huh?” Because they can HEAR me even with my kids being loud and crazy in the background. Honestly they love it and they said they feel like they’re in the room with us.This does have a few apps like zoom, all recipes, etc. you can access YouTube through google and I have had no issues with buffering so I can play music on it or watch a podcast while cooking/doing chores.I highly recommend this to families like ours that live far apart but want to stay close. For our needs, the price was great and it is working wonderfully. I called our husband on this using WhatsApp on his phone and he had a fun midday chat with both of our wild and busy boys.

This product USED to be way awesome. But no more. It used to have alexa built in. So you could use it to do all kinds of things related to alexa like ask questions, control alexa devices etc. I could call up my Ring camera devices too. You also used to be able to talk to it to start a video call by saying "hey portal, call joe schmoe".Well, Amazon STOPPED all of that compatibility effective 2/1/2025 and removed alexa and took away the ability to say "hey portal ..." to do anything. My elderly mom used to be able to say "hey portal, call xx" to call me if she could not get to the Portal, but no more. So functionality is WAY WAY down. I notice the amazon listing still shows "alexa built in" which is no longer true.Bottom line: no longer nearly as useful as it used to be; so I am looking for alternatives.If you ONLY want to use it for video chats and you want to have to walk up to it to push buttons on the screen to start those chats, then it is a great video chat device. But very disappointing that Amazon stopped all those other features!

I've owned one before but it doesn't answer to my voice anymore

This device is amazing since my grandchildren. They love carrying around the portable one and showing me things in different rooms. The interactive activities like reading and the different filters are so much fun. My youngest is 2 and loves pushing the red button unfortunately that hangs us up. Wish they had a lock to prevent this.

So far this is a neat little device. Not hard to set up and it is battery operated so it has the portability my wife likes. Very good sound. Haven't tried all the features yet though. I would recommend.One downside to his order. We ordered and paid for this portal from Amazon, now the seller is Mayhey whom we had no contacts with. Yet Meta, the manufacturer of these portals attempted to charge the account used to pay Amazon. The troubling part is we had no contact with Meta nor do we have an account with Meta prior to this incident. We contacted Meta to find out what the charge was for. But because we did not have an account, we were told they couldn't help us and to contact Amazon. Amazon couldn't help because they buy from Mayhey. Therefore, Amazon had to have supplied the account info to Mayhey who intern supplied this information to Meta. I see no reason for Meta to have our account information so who supplied them with the information?