Facebook announces first hardware device – a video calling screen

Facebook has unveiled the company’s first ever hardware product – a video calling device called Portal.

The new voice-controlled screen, which has the Amazon Alexa voice assistant built-in, can be used to make video calls to friends and family via the social media giant’s Messenger platform.

The company has been at the centre of several data privacy incidents this year, and also revealed details about the Portal’s privacy settings in a bid to reassure potential customers.

“Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure,” the company said in the blog post announcing the device.

Last month the company confirmed it had been the subject of a data breach affecting up to 50 million users, which is now being investigated by the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC), the lead supervising authority for Facebook in the EU.

The device includes what Facebook calls Smart Camera and Smart Sound technology, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically pan and zoom the camera to keep everyone speaking in view, while Smart Sound minimises background noise and enhances the voice of whoever is speaking to improve call quality.

The social media giant has been the subject of several previous rumours linked to building hardware – including suggestions the company once considered building a smartphone.

The company has also been heavily linked with making its own smart speaker to rival the likes of the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but no such device has yet appeared.