Beats By Dre is mostly known for its mass takeover of the headphones market in the past couple years. You can’t help but see them everywhere. From the various headphone models to seeing just about every celebrity rocking a pair of the many lavish colors in the lineup.
They look to step into another arena in the many options of listening to music, which is that of wireless portable speakers. The “Pill” looks to come out the gate offering features such as NFC, APT-X, speakerphone and others. But is it enough to make you devour this pill?
Style
The Pill comes in at a length of 7ins long, and diameter of 1.8in around. It is rather sleek and can be easily put in a bag or even slid in a side coat pocket as I have done both. Its pretty lightweight and the build feels sturdy and strong. Color wise its featured in red(as shown), black, and white. There are a couple special edition colors on the Beats website also.
On the front you can see through the grille of the device there are four mini speakers or drivers that is pumping the sound out of it. When turning it on it makes a quirky sound(same turning it off) and the “B” symbol lights up and stays light the entire time of usage. Volume controls are on the top, power button in the back and also connections for in/out audio cables and microUSB for charging.
Included is a microUSB cable and AC adapter for charging and also a case to put your Pill in.
Features
The big thing going for the Pill is its ability to have NFC incorporated inside. Tapping your NFC-enabled device on the back of the speaker will automatically sync your device. This has worked flawlessly using the Lumia 810, and also the Samsung Galaxy Note II. If something was currently playing it would bump it to the side and take over.
Bluetooth works just as easy by holding the “B” button and having your device search for it and your good to go. Synced it with my ultrabook with no problem and able to stream my music and whatever was playing right off of it like a movie for instance. Adding this with the Apt-X technology built-in makes for a better quality listening experience over bluetooth.
As far as battery life it’s tapped to get you jamming to around seven hours of music depending on your level of music blasting and I was able to walk around 30 feet without any breakup. Leave it in the living room and go in the kitchen was a joy and still control the music.
Sound Quality
You can crank this up pretty high and it will definitely get loud. Sound quality is on par, and didn’t notice any signs of distortion playing it through the various types of music. Playing it with Britney Spears & Will.I.AM’s “Scream & Shout”, and listening to Drake’s rhymes in “The Motto” the music clarity is different heard. It doesn’t provide the strongest bass I would have expected from Beats as it needs a little more thump to it.
Indulge in the Pill?
I like the sleek design and its portability that come along with it. Sound is impressive and can definitely fill up a room or small apartment. More bass could be utilized in this device but it’s not horrible.
The multiple options of getting music from this device is great. Whether you want to do a straight audio cable connection, sync it with Bluetooth, or just tap your NFC-enabled device on it, the possibilities are endless.
Pricing could be a few dollars lower coming in at a pricey $199.99 for a portable speaker. But in the end you should enjoyable especially with its wireless capabilities and portability.
