The Portal Plus is an expensive device with a $349 price tag that belies its capabilities. Although the Portal Plus boasts a big screen and some fun tools, it's far more limited than, say, the current-generation Amazon Echo Show 10 and Google Nest Hub Max. In fact, the big screen is arguably the sole reason to choose the Portal Plus over Facebook's $199 Portal Go, a nearly identical device save for its 10-inch display and battery-powered portability. Whether or not you'll be truly satisfied with either one, though, depends on what you want--and whether you have a Facebook or WhatsApp account, one of which is required to use any Portal. The Portal Plus' base is also its speaker.

Social distancing is still in full effect for most of us--and that means your steady stream of video calls with friends and family probably won't slow down anytime soon. It's easy to use your smartphone or laptop to see your friends and family, but Facebook Portal, a smart video display that features Amazon Alexa, makes quarantine video chat awesome with its augmented reality effects and other cool features. The Portal Plus has a respectable speaker and a display that swivels to change between portrait and landscape modes. Facebook Portal is a smart video display screen that closely resembles a picture frame. The device uses Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to make video calls, but the person you're trying to call doesn't need a Portal to answer your call--just a Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp account.