If LeBron James walking around town with it wasn’t a big enough giveaway, Beats has announced its iconic Beats Pill portable Bluetooth speaker is making a comeback – and it’s been reengineered and redesigned from the ground up to help it take on new competition.
Not only does the new Beats Pill look slicker than its predecessor, with a more rounded and seamless design, but it's claimed to sound better, is lighter and more durable, and now features a longer all-day battery life.
The original Beats Pill (2015-2022) was something of a pop culture phenomenon, and found itself in the background of music videos as regularly as Beats headphones found themselves around the neck of musicians and sports stars. The problem was, it didn’t actually sound very good, and there’s been sizeable work put into ensuring that’s not the case this time.
An upgraded acoustic architecture aims to deliver a bigger, bolder sound than the last Beats Pill, with deeper bass and improved tonality across the board. The completely reengineered racetrack woofer uses stronger neodymium magnets to help drive 28 per cent more motor force and displace 90 per cent more air volume for a more powerful sound, while the redesigned tweeter has been secured in its own housing to provide extra stability. Beats says this should deliver rich mids, crisp highs and less distortion.
The drivers also now have a 20-degree upward tilt for better on-axis sound projection, but if you need an even bigger sound, you can sync two Beats Pill speakers together, in either Amplify or Stereo Mode.
As for its design, it’s now 10 per cent lighter than its predecessor and is more easily portable thanks to the removable carry lanyard. It finally gets waterproofing this time around too, with an IP67 rating protecting it against dust, sand and water.
Otherwise, the Beats Pill keeps things pretty simple. There are a handful of on-device controls, for managing music and adjusting volume, plus power and pairing, and a USB-C port at the back. Not only is this used for charging, with up to 24 hours of continuous playback, but it can also be used for wired lossless playback from a phone or laptop.
A Fast Fuel option for two hours of music from a 10-minute charge is also available.
Of course, the Beats Pills takes advantage of its Apple heritage to deliver seamless compatibility with both iOS and Android devices, with instant one-touch pairing, plus Find My or Find My Device features in case it is lost.
The Beats Pill is available to order starting today in a choice of three colours – Matte Black, Statement Red and Champagne Gold – for £150/$150 with shipping starting on 27th June. We’ll have a full review for you very soon.
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Read our original Beats Pill+ review
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