Facebook Smart Speakers to Feature 15-Inch Touchscreens

What’s that? You don’t already have enough Facebook in your life? You’re not already mindlessly scrolling through your news feed multiple times a day to check on the latest memes and status updates? (No judgement; I totally do the same thing.) Well, what if you could welcome Zuck and his team into your own with always-listening microphones and potentially always-on webcams? You’re in luck, because apparently not just one but two Facebook smart speakers are in the works and they’re coming sooner than you might think.

As reported by Digitimes, the pair of Facebook smart speakers are being codenamed Aloha and Fiona. Similar to the Amazon Echo Show and the upcoming family of touchscreen-enabled Google Assistant smart devices, these Facebook smart home products will feature touchscreens for full interactivity.

What’s different — or at least one thing that’s different — is that both Aloha and Fiona will boast massive 15-inch touchscreens. That’s the same size as most conventional laptops and already larger than many of the smaller laptops — like the MacBook — that you may already have in our life.

And these Facebook smart speakers are coming “in July at the latest.” That’s a mere five months away.

It’s clear enough that Facebook wants to capitalize on this rising interest in smart speakers, spurred on by devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home families of products, as well as the more recent Siri-enabled Apple HomePod.

And just like these other smart speakers, concerns over privacy are going to be front and center, especially considering how Facebook already knows so much about you and leverages all of that information to target advertising in your direction. Scary or useful? That’s up to you decide.

Aloha will be “more sophisticated” than Fiona, but both will get their in-cell touchscreen panels from LG Display and both will be assembled by Pegatron of Taiwan. “Sources” indicate that Aloha will eventually be marketed under the name Portal. It’ll come with a wide-angle, front-facing camera that’s not only used for video calls, but will also leverage facial recognition to identify users like Face ID. You’ll also be able to use voice commands like other smart speakers.

The kicker? This pair of Facebook smart speakers is only the beginning. The report goes on to mention that Facebook is “planning to build its own ecosystem for video consumer devices in the next five years, and the smart speaker is just the initial-stage product.”

Will this be the next big thing or will this be the second coming of the failed Facebook phone? We’ll let the algorithm decide.