Its stout backside and front grille provide some rugged durability, but as I discovered on a recent camping trip, it’s not quite as resilient to drops or bumps as the toughest options. While jamming tunes on a cabin deck, a friend accidentally knocked the Pill off a 4-foot railing, sending it bouncing off a couple of stairs. The performance wasn’t affected, but the grille gained some fresh battle scars in the form of dual dents at its edges. Back home I tried a similar stairwell drop test with the JBL Flip 5 and Ultimate Ears Boom 4, both of which walked away mostly unscathed without any noticeable dents.
Somewhat ironically, part of the reason I placed the Pill in such a precarious position is its relative lack of setup positions compared to those more versatile rivals. It’s certainly robust enough for outdoor adventures–just pick your setup spot better than I did.
Fully Loaded
Beats packed the new Pill with a full suite of features, including some I never even considered, like a USB-C digital input that lets you wire in high-resolution audio à la the Beats Studio Pro (7/10, WIRED Recommends). As before, you can pair the speaker with another Pill to “amplify” the sound or spread them out as a stereo pair, which works well but unsurprisingly doesn’t match similarly priced desktop models. Class 1 Bluetooth provides excellent wireless range (I got up to 130 feet with line of sight before cutouts), particularly helpful for those times when you wander away from the party with your phone.
Other extras include one-touch pairing and even Find My functionality for iOS or Android devices, a built-in speakerphone, access to your phone’s voice assistant, and the ability to flip the USB-C port to output power for charging other devices. You don’t get a 3.5-mm input for sourcing legacy audio devices, and there’s no way to EQ the sound, but neither of those are features I regularly reach for in a speaker designed mostly for ambiance.
I have some minor points of contention with the Pill’s control system. It’s simple for tasks like play/pause, song skip, volume, and calling, but going deeper sometimes demands too much “multi” from the multifunction keys. When I first tried powering down, I kept holding the power key past the required “.8 seconds,” putting the speaker in pairing mode. You’ve got to use a quick tap for a battery check, or tap three times to allow the USB-C port to charge other devices. iPhone users have to go through some center-key hullabaloo to get two Pills to pair up, while Android users can connect them in the Beats app. None of this is a huge deal, but you may need to look online since some controls aren’t outlined in the quick guide.
The Pill’s mondo battery life steps in to ease those minor control inconveniences. With up to 24 hours of playback at half volume, the speaker doubles its predecessor and cheaper options like the Flip, while easily outlasting the latest UE Boom (15 hours) and pricier JBL Charge (20 hours). I got even more play time in testing, since I rarely raised the Pill’s volume above 30 percent indoors.
Snazzy Sound
In true Beats fashion, the Pill takes a calculated extremist approach to its sound signature. The bass is big and brawny, while the treble is snappy and vibrant for a performance that’s as slick, shiny, and polished as the speaker itself. At first, I thought it was a too sculpted and snazzy for my taste, but maybe due in part to Apple’s takeover, there’s a resigned tact that keeps things from getting overly boomy down low or brittle up high.
After I settled in, I began to really enjoy the Pill’s affected sound for its ability to expose instruments and effects with both clarity and power. The top side preserves lush detail and impressive sonic depth across genres, while the full-bodied bass brings a brazen force that warms up your favorite tracks for a sweet ride. My wife and I couldn’t help but notice the speaker buzzing warmly across surfaces like the picnic table at our campsite, adding some bounce to our breakfast.
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