Beats Pill - Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with AppleCare+ (2 Years) - Champagne Gold

I was expecting this “Beats Pill - Portable Bluetooth Speaker- Up to 24H Battery Life, Water Resistant, Bluetooth, Apple & Android Compatible, Seriously Loud Sound for Home, Outdoor and Travel- Champagne Gold” to be similar or the same size of my beloved (not working anymore) original Beats Pill 2.0; but to my disappointment, this new Beats Pill “24” (released in 2024 or up to 24hrs of battery life) is much larger than the original one. Since the design is so similar, from the pictures, it misled me to expect that. This new one is actually 24oz vs the original at only 10oz; and this new one has a diameter of 2.8in vs the original one is only approximately 1.8in. So the length is 1in longer, the diameter is 1in larger, the whole thing is much beefier, almost 2.5 times heavier. I want this to be my “bring everywhere”, “bring it with me on all my travels” speaker (like my original one), but now I have my doubts about it.I am *still* giving it a 5-star though. To not check and confirm the size, it is my own fault. And except that, I am overly happy with this speaker. The design is great, and the sound is awesome. The sound stage is huge, and this speaker is *loud*. And even at higher volume, the sound is clean and not distorted. The acoustic details are nice, the highs are crisp, and the basses are strong and solid. The best of all, is its price, the MSRP is $149, yet I acquired it on sale at $99!This new Beats Pill is a direct competitor to Bose Soundlink Flex, JBL Charge 5, Sono Move etc.. Yet this new Pill is as good, if not better than all these competitors, and is cheaper than all of them!Thank you for reading this review, I hope that this review & the pictures are helpful to you in support of your purchase decision.

I bought this used in "acceptable" condition, with no description as to actual condition. The previous two "acceptable" ones came with somewhat minor dents, but no original packaging, charge cord, or instructions. One of them smelled like something like Febreeze had been sprayed or rubbed on it. This one, the cheapest I have seen in this color, has no discernible scratches or dents and looks new, , arrived in the original, but extremely taped box, and had cord, instructions, and stickers. Jackpot! It should have been classified as "very good" or even, "like new." It sounds great, with movie theater very present bass sound. A little weak in the midrange when quiet or loud, but may be fixable in firmware, as may connectivity issues. As has been noted in other user reviews, it gets disconnected rather frequently for no discernible reason, is hard to maintain in paired modes for this reason, and makes a rather loud noise when turning on and off. One reviewing site reviewer downgraded it for having to hold the on /off button too long to turn it on and off. 2 or 3 seconds is too long? This is actually a great design feature that keeps it from accidentally turning off or on while in a bag or backpack while taking camping or to the beach. To prevent dents in transit I suggest keeping the well-designed protective box. Though I suspect the dented speakers were dropped. None of the carrying cases designed for this version of the Beats Pill, that I have ordered, had any real padding. If the case is hard enough this may not matter, but one was easily mushable. I'm thinking of just using the box. The only case I've found with real padding, and a nicely hard shell, is the co2CREA Hard Travel Case Replacement for JBL Flip 6 FLIP 5 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker Case. (This can be found cheaply in Amazon Resale in like -new condition.). The Pill fits snugly in this, though it mushes down the divider, but still leaves room for the charging cable and a plug in charger.The original Pill colors: red, gold, and black, come with a black plastic charging cord. The Kim Kardashian Pills come with cords that match the Pill color, and cross-hatched fiber covering, which may be better quality than the black cords? They are stiffer!The main feature that I went with the Pill for is the "Lossless listening." The ability to plug in the Pill directly to your device without having to use bluetooth. We have so much radiation already with wi-fi, phone, radio, and tv signals broadcasted all around us, I prefer not to have to add bluetooth to the mix. Plus the sound quality is better. Speakers that can use wi-fi also get better sound quality than bluetooth because of better bandwith.Though the Pill as yet has no online equalizer as other better quality speakers do, I find it does a great job adjusting to different kinds of audio, unlike say, an Echo Show 8, which has glorious stereo spatial audio sound, but has a hard time playing simple podcast and news talking voices understandably because of too heavy bass. But this can be adjusted with its online on speaker equalizer, lowering the bass to zero. The Pill automatically adjusts.

Needed a new portable speaker for the home setup and once I saw that Beats (read: Apple) came out with the new Beats Pill, I bit the bullet and purchased one.First things first, the unboxing experience and the design of the speaker is quintessentially Apple. Speaker has a nice heft to it and the design of the speaker is really nice, with the angled design, and the speakers facing you.If you are in the Apple Ecosystem, this speaker was made for you as it connects to your iPhone the minute you turn it on with a very satisfying screen animation. I'm told you can easily connect with an Android product too but I didn't have one in hand to test out how easy it was.The sound quality of this speaker is really great for its size, living up to the Beats name, filling the room with punchy bass and crystal clear sound. Rated IP67 meaning it is dust and water resistant, so you can feel confident taking it to your next beach party or when you are traveling. Battery life of this thing is stated at a whopping 24 hrs. I'll definitely be testing that claim, but if true, is completely mind blowing.But what sets this speaker apart, and one of the main reasons why I bought it, is that it also doubles as a speakerphone!!! I can connect this badboy to my laptop, and take crystal clear Teams calls with it all day at work. And when I'm done with my calls, since it is connected to my laptop via USB-C, I can listen to lossless music on Apple Music. Mind...blown!Run, don't walk, to buy this awesome speaker!!

I knew that the Beats Pill had a reputation for clear sound, fat bass and outperforming its size, but I didn't expect it to be quite this good. I use it in boring ways, at my desk, in the kitchen during chores, doing yoga - and it just shines, filling the room with music. The Pill surprised me with how good it sounded on operas and symphonies, but it is also great for playing podcasts, radio broadcasts, pop music, everything. Super clear, so much power, and it gets really loud! One thing I didn't know before I bought it was that it can charge other devices (and that it charges very quickly - but that is two things). It's tiny and pretty, so glad I found it!