On a related note, I wanted to share my amazing experience with a similar but lo-fi tech.
My mom and dad for the past 2-3 years have mostly lived in two separate countries (due to work reasons) and I could tell they miss each other quite a bit.
I got both of them an Echo Show 10" device each and set it up for them. I don't think I can explain how our lives have changed for the better, just based on this simple piece of tech.
The Echo Show is now pretty much constantly on video call for 14-16 hours a day in the living room of both houses and it has become an extension of the one another; a window into the other house. The audio and mics are good enough that at times you genuinely forget the other person is not in the same room. This has truly helped them, especially during Covid times.
It's actually good enough that my parents have their morning tea together practically almost the same way they used to when they were physically together. They've told me multiple times "I don't know how we could've lived without this Alexa thing".
If Google can eventually get the prices down to reasonable levels, I really think people would be shocked at how fast this thing becomes part of our daily lives.
>The Echo Show is now pretty much constantly on video call for 14-16 hours a day in the living room of both houses and it has become an extension of the one another; a window into the other house. The audio and mics are good enough that at times you genuinely forget the other person is not in the same room. This has truly helped them, especially during Covid times.
>It's actually good enough that my parents have their morning tea together practically almost the same way they used to when they were physically together.
I don't understand why this sort of persistant 'portal' isn't more popular. But 10 inch screen is so small! A 55 inch TV is what, $300? Put it portrait mode and that's a life size portrait. The feeling of presence when the person's head is the correct size is so strong! I know Facebook sells something for the TV but can it be left on all day like that?
I want it feel like one half of living room is a shared space, at all times. Like the couch is split in half by a portal. Then it just cycles through a list of friends and family with the same setup to find someone else watching Netflix or whatever, and you can casually join them just like a real shared living space.
I don't need 8k or 3D tv. Just a 55 or 65 inch TV on the wall at the end of the couch!
Wouldn't it be really difficult to put a 55 inch TV in portrait mode?
Although I think as I live in a city with small apartments, wall-mounting is much less common. I guess with a decent wall mount perhaps it is trivial to rotate it?
I can echo (no pun intended) this experience with the Echo Show, but I would love something much bigger and higher-def. My family is separated long-distance, and I would pay big money for a higher-def "window to another home" product.
It looks really nice, but I'd really like a larger one that supports drop-in. Being able to just show up without having to deal with an elderly relative trying to find a button to answer is really a killer feature.
We tried Portal Plus at work to bring our two remote workers closer to the local office but it never really caught on in the office setting. The quality and tech was quite good though. Fb login required of course which was a minor nuisance.
I started working fully remote two and half years ago. Company has a couple of meeting rooms fully set up with Zoom, which I and a few other remote people used to connect to with my laptop for standups together with the in-office people. That's not the case everywhere but quite classic.
The company also had a dedicated TV+camera+24/7 Zoom meeting setup in the open space itself, so that remote people could connect to and say hi anytime. It was surprisingly nice.
Then one day on a whim I got a wide-ish USB webcam plugged into my Xbox One†.
The difference in perception is insane: instead of having this wall of people faces, like you're on several phone calls at once, I got a portalesque window between the office and my place. Instead of connecting people, it connected places††. But it only works if both sides are sharing a space instead of a selfie angle, and I think the way sound was picked up by a fixed element in the room played a lot as well.
So I'm a bit partial about this Starline thing, as it seems to be a step forward in "definition" but also feels like a blown up selfie angle.
† There's no Zoom app on Xbox (which is really a shame) so I used Edge, for which Zoom on the web is more limited and barks on webaudio (which works! Zoom just support only Chrome so I had to dial in on a phone). Also, Xbox+Kinect truly had the potential to be something amazing beyond games. I believe the marketing was botched alright but it was also way too early for the audience.
†† Which ends up connecting people on a deeper level. At some point I caught myself intuitively wanting to hand over physical objects through the TV.
I remember when I used to be in a long distance relationship with my now wife. We used to have the laptops on Skype for hours just to have each other's company, even if we were studying or doing something else. It was very unique at the time.
I'm quite jealous cuz back then we didn't have Echo Show, it'd probably be used just like your parents use it.
Last I checked, Google Nest did not have a "Drop-in" feature like Echo where my parents can just drop-into the living room of the other house (no calling or ringing).
The Echo device just makes a sound that someone is dropping-in and gives a 10 seconds heads-up (of course this only works if you enable the permission for family members. Else it's turned off by default).
I used the small version of fb portal with my parents for a while and it was great, but I wish it would have been bigger. I’ve been thinking about buying a larger portal, but I might want to wait for this starline thing (although I have a feeling it’ll be very expensive).
My mom and dad for the past 2-3 years have mostly lived in two separate countries (due to work reasons) and I could tell they miss each other quite a bit.
I got both of them an Echo Show 10" device each and set it up for them. I don't think I can explain how our lives have changed for the better, just based on this simple piece of tech.
The Echo Show is now pretty much constantly on video call for 14-16 hours a day in the living room of both houses and it has become an extension of the one another; a window into the other house. The audio and mics are good enough that at times you genuinely forget the other person is not in the same room. This has truly helped them, especially during Covid times.
It's actually good enough that my parents have their morning tea together practically almost the same way they used to when they were physically together. They've told me multiple times "I don't know how we could've lived without this Alexa thing".
If Google can eventually get the prices down to reasonable levels, I really think people would be shocked at how fast this thing becomes part of our daily lives.