A portable speaker earns its keep by surviving a beach bag on Saturday and a rainy porch on Sunday, and the redesigned Beats Pill is built with both in mind. It goes from $149.95 to $99.95 on Amazon, a 33% discount, and the price is the same in Matte Black, Champagne Gold and Statement Red.
A Bigger Woofer and a 24-Hour Battery
The sound comes from a racetrack-shaped woofer that Beats says displaces 90% more air than before, a comparison with an earlier model that the listing doesn’t name, paired with a redesigned tweeter for the highs and mid-range. The company also says the woofer’s material and structure keep low-end distortion down at high volume, which is where small speakers usually fall apart, and the spec table lists a maximum output of 69 watts. At a backyard barbecue or a small apartment party, that headroom matters more than a long battery figure, because the speaker has to fill the space without the sound turning harsh once someone asks for the volume to go up.
That table also lists the output as mono, so a single Pill is one speaker rather than a stereo pair, but two units can be paired in either Amplify mode or Stereo mode, which Beats presents as twice the output. Pairing works with both iPhone and Android, with one-touch setup and automatic pairing across your other devices, along with Find My and Find My Device, so a speaker left at a friend’s place can be tracked down. Calls and the voice assistant also work straight from the speaker.
Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours, and the USB-C port can charge a phone or other devices, which makes the Pill useful on a long day out when a power bank would otherwise be needed. The same port enables the lossless audio mentioned in the listing: Beats says you can get high-resolution lossless sound by connecting the speaker to a laptop or compatible device with a USB-C cable, so that applies to the wired connection rather than to Bluetooth. I’d call the cable route the niche one, more useful at a desk than on a trail, but it is there for anyone who cares about the source quality.
The speaker is rated IP67 for dust and water, which generally means it is dust-tight and can survive brief submersion in fresh water, so a splash by the pool or a downpour at a campsite shouldn’t be a problem. A removable lanyard and a soft-grip silicone back are included for carrying, and I’d use the lanyard on anything that hangs from a backpack or a tent pole, since a speaker is easy to knock over in the dark.
The listing offers three finishes at the same price, and the version shown is Standalone. Two other styles, With AppleCare+ and With Power Adapter, are listed separately, and the listing doesn’t say what they cost, so it’s worth checking before choosing. The rating is 4.6 out of 5 across 3,627 reviews and it carries the Amazon’s Choice badge, though I’d note that those ratings may include earlier versions of the speaker.
Amazon also notes that some other sellers have the speaker for less, though without free Prime shipping, and buyers who prefer to split the cost can pay $24.99 every two weeks over four payments. Returns are free, which helps with a speaker, since the only real way to judge its bass is to hear it in your own room.
For anyone who wants a speaker that works with both iPhone and Android, the Beats Pill at $99.95 instead of $149.95 on Amazon comes in all three colors for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days.