Lots of Bells and Whistles Without the Apple Price Tag

Beats finally realized that they used to make speakers, too. The Apple-owned audio brand released its last speaker, the Pill+, a decade ago, and recently released its successor, the Pill, in June.

The tablet is priced at $150 and I couldn’t help but compare it to the $130 Sony Ult Field 1 that was just released during my testing. It has a similar pill-shaped design, a mono output system, and a mid-range price aimed at non-audiophiles looking for decent, room-filling sound for picnics, hikes, or solo listening.

Beats Pill Review: Design

It wouldn’t be my top choice for a hiking trip.

Design-wise, you can tell that Beats tried to maximize portability in the Philisini. It features a generous amount of shock-resistant rubber and silicon, and a long lanyard that can fit in your backpack on a hiking trip. The tablet is also IP67 rated, which is the highest level of dust resistance you can get and probably the highest water resistance (IP68 is the highest). It checks all the boxes and may not be enough for the average consumer who wants to carry a lot of sound with them in a small package to places like the beach or the park.

But if you’re someone who always likes to take your speaker wherever you go (me), you’d probably be more comfortable taking the Ult Field 1 on an adventure. It’s also IP67 rated but sports a rugged look and a rugged looking body. I like that the Type-C charging port is covered with a flap made of rubber to prevent water from getting inside. The exposed USB-C port on the Beats pill, by contrast, would be a bit of a concern for me if I were at the beach or by the pool.

Both speakers include a lanyard, but the Sony does it better. The yarn on the Ult Field 1 is extra thick, looks durable and strong, and provides an extra loop on the speaker body that doubles as a handle when you take it on the go. The Ult Field 1 is also noticeably lighter at 650g compared to the Pill, which weighs 680g.

Beats Pill Review: Battery Life

That’s twice what you’d get from a speaker this size.

Although the design may be the only area where the Pill shines brighter than the Ult Field 1. In terms of battery life, the Pill lasts 24 hours, while the Field 1 stops after 12 hours. My use of the Pill has been infrequent for a few weeks, and I haven’t had to charge it yet. It also has a few bells and whistles that the other speakers on this list—the Ult Field 1, and the Sonos Roam 2—don’t offer. You get lossless audio with a USB-C connection so you can enjoy hi-res audio while the speaker is connected to your laptop or other compatible devices. I felt a slight improvement in sound, but not enough to be tied to a phone when I can go wireless.

I’m also glad that Beats is finally targeting Android users and introducing the same native features as it does on iOS. The pill offers the same one-touch interface for both apps and the Find My (for iOS) option for the Find My Phone (for Android) option. Following the EU mandate, Beats has also moved from the light port that preceded the Pill to a USB-C port on the Pill, making it easier to be compatible with non-Apple devices.

Beats Pill Review: Sound

Better for high end than bass.

Beats promises a new, improved racing woofer that pushes 90% more air for powerful bass. After listening to the Fred Again on both speakers, I’d still recommend the Ult Field 1 if you’re into the kind of bass that’s so powerful it sometimes takes over other aspects of your orchestra. Even with its bass boost button turned off, the Pill delivers a rich and powerful low-end sound. Some bass-heavy tracks may come across as thick or excessive, but you can simply choose to turn them down in such cases.

The pill does better in the mids (or voices) and treble. The vocal track on “Marea” sounded very clear in Philisini. The orchestra never sounded cohesive and showed enough space for each element to shine on its own. Beats say their tweeter has been optimized to deliver sweet highs and rich mids and this is a claim I can attest to after playing a few heavy songs.

Another great feature that the Pill is surprisingly generous in offering at such a low price is Amplifier and Stereo Modes. You can pair two sound-enhanced Tablets in Amplification Mode where they do exactly what the mode’s name suggests: provide loud sound. Or you can put them in Stereo mode where the speakers act as left and right outputs. I tried the mods on the pair of Pills Beats that were sent to us, and they were very easy to set up. You bring the two speakers closer to each other and long press the multifunction button on the speaker to power them on or cycle between them. I can imagine Amplification Mode coming in handy during a house party where you can place two speakers in two separate rooms.

Beats Pill Review: The Verdict

I believe that the Pill is an affordable speaker that offers much more than you would expect from it. And it doesn’t have a premium made by Apple, often called the Apple Tax, which is surprising. For just $150, it features an impressive top end, a host of portability-focused features, and other interesting features like Amplifier and Stereo Modes or lossless audio via USB-C. There are much punchier alternatives for the same price so I wouldn’t recommend the Pill for bass alone. The 24-hour battery life is more than double what you get from similar speakers in this range (10-15 hours) and the new Android compatibility features expand the target audience that wants to carry a small speaker that can produce big sound.