Taste the Apple in the new Beats Pill+

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beats-pill-plus-apple
The new Beats Pill+ is a bigger one to swallow.
Photo: Beats

The Beats Pill+ is on its way and equipped with that Apple lovin’. The successor of the Beats Pill takes a somewhat different design approach from the Beats Pill and comes with some terrific improvements to sound and battery life. Most interestingly, the speaker is the first the company released since Apple’s acquisition last year.

The new Beats Pill+ has a flat top and bottom with controls lined up horizontally. They’re rubberized power, volume up and volume down buttons. The play/pause function is combined in metal with the Beats logo. The speaker now also comes in only black or white, which is likely Apple’s influence to streamline the color options.

The improved sound quality is thanks to the new stereo active two-way crossover system, which ensures that the right sounds come out of the correct speakers. Two built-in amplifiers also accompany each pair of woofers and tweeters.

Beats Pill+ also works with a cool app for iOS or Android that lets you pair up to two devices at once to take turns DJing, or link two separate Pill+ speakers to amplify the sound or put it in stereo mode.

The new speaker has 12-hour battery life, a significant step up from the 7 hours the previous generation offers. Another sign of Apple’s input is the new charging mechanism, which uses a Lightning connector to charge in just three hours. Plus five LEDs on the top indicate the battery life. Pill+ comes with a USB port for charging external devices too.

At $229, the new Beats Pill+ is $30 more than its predecessor, but you get quite a few new features with it. The Verge got some hands-on time with it already and said the sound is stellar compared to the last model. It’s also a tad bigger than the Beats Pill.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Beats Pill+ should be out some time in November. Meanwhile, folks interested can sign up on the website for notification on when the product is available.

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