Facebook is stuck on material like chewed gum under the stomach of a school desk. After going public with what are essentially smart spy glasses co-branded with Ray-Ban, we’re once again talking about smart screens as the company adds two new entries to the Portal family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_l92UZhReQ

The Portal Go, as the name suggests, is meant to be portable, but I doubt calling it “Portal Portable” would have been no fun.

“Portable,” in this case, means moving an oversized stand-alone tablet with a 10 “(1280 x 800) display from room to room so you can be more dynamic with your video calls. Maybe you ( or your grandparents, as evidenced by the promo video above) will love to whip this in place of your phone. The 12 MP wide-angle camera is complemented by AI cropping and panning technology. to get every last piece of whimsical dance your baby cousin does. And as always (and to cover our bases), there’s a switch to mute the camera and mics and a lens cover for a little more luxurious privacy. It will cost $ 199.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn3PTicfYts

The 2018 Portal + is scaled down with this second-gen overhaul, losing the unique high stand and swivel screen and instead opting for a more mundane 14 “2160 x 1440 tilting screen. It also has the same 12MP camera and a few built-in. Powerful Speakers: Two 5W all-purpose drivers and a 20W woofer. $ 349 will get you what would be a half-decent built-in A / V system for your computer if it weren’t for an HDMI port. The privacy switch and camera cover are also here.

Facebook has pre-orders open now with delivery starting October 19. It offers $ 100 off the purchase of two Portal devices and free shipping for them to separate addresses. It also announced support for Microsoft Teams calling starting in December.

The surprisingly crowded market for these displays seems to be (mainly) in the name for those who are not very tech savvy and for those who want a simple, stand-alone second machine for business meetings. That doesn’t mean the portals get a free pass from our critical eyes, however, especially given where they come from.