Beats Pill+ review

WHAT IS THE BEATS PILL+?

The Beats Pill+ is a small wireless speaker. However, it’s totally different to the Pill and Pill 2.0 that came before.
Slightly larger and using bigger bass drivers, the Pill+ is the first small Beats speaker that really sounds bigger than it is. It’s a very significant, long overdue upgrade.
It’s nice not to have to tell people to run for the hills as soon as they see a Pill+. But the Beats Pill+ isn’t quite as good as the best at this size in several areas. And that's an issue when, at $229 (likely to equate to around £179 in the UK) in the US, it's one of the most expensive choices in its class.

BEATS PILL+ – DESIGN AND FEATURES

The Beats Pill+ looks very similar to the Ministry of Sound Audio S Plus I reviewed recently. I’ll put my hands up to this one: I didn’t twig that the Ministry set is largely a copy of this one, because, while there has been some rumbling about the Pill+ in the US, it's a newborn in the UK.
Its look and feel are both great. The design is minimal and smart, while still looking a bit more youthful than the Bose SoundLink Mini II, whose looks you – well – grow to appreciate.
This is a hefty-feeling speaker. It’s 750g and its rubberised outer parts make the Beats Pill+ feel like it’s made out of something a bit more substantial than basic plastic.
Being a Beats product, the Pill +was never going to be cheap. And ultimately it’s simply a ‘nice’ looking and feeling thing rather than one that takes the category forward.
The one feature it does offer over most others is very convenient water resistance. A neat little rubbery flap on the back plugs-up the Lightning charge port, 3.5mm aux input and the full-size USB. It’s splash-proof, so while the Pill isn’t outright rugged, you don’t need to actively look after it either. There are no seams in the rubbery buttons on the top to let the side down either.


 There are also a couple of things to note about the Pill ’s rear connections. This is the first Beats speaker to use an iPhone-style Lightning charging socket. It comes with a charge cable but the post-Apple-acquisition message is clear: Beats now officially loves iPhone owners more than Android fans. Deal with it.
The full-size USB on the back is far more platform-agnostic. It lets you charge your phone using the Pill ’s own battery, but don’t expect super-fast charging. It’ll only output 1A where some of the top phones have 2A or even 3A chargers. Still, it’s all I’ve ever seen in a speaker charger like this.
You’ll get up to 12 hours of music off a charge, although as with any portable speaker that figure will drop significantly if you listen at high volumes.

Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/beats-pill-plus-review#DO15ejc4flh52RX2.99

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