Let’s talk about Beats, baby
Let’s talk about NFC
Let’s talk about all the good things…
…and the bad things about Beats
Now that we’ve had our daily “spice,” let’s get serious about this Beats Pill character. This little four speaker portable stereo really packs a punch for a small guy. Let’s just say if the Beats Pill went to high school with other portable speaker systems in the same price range, the Beats Pill would have definitely been voted “class loudest” and it wouldn’t even be close.
The Jambox may have a smoother, deeper, sexier Barry White kind of voice but the Pill takes a page from the Isley Brothers — A little bit louder now…A LITTLE BIT LOUDER NOW…A LITTLE BIT LOUDER NOW! You get the idea. This thing pumps so much sound from such a small package that you might think you are actually front row at that One Direction concert you’ve been dreaming of.
It’s not all about the volume, though. The Beats Pill has some great connectivity options as well; the ability to play music to your device with Line in/Line out, Bluetooth, and NFC connectivity makes it one of the more versatile portable speaker systems on the market.
So as I mentioned earlier in my spicy intro, let’s talk about NFC (Near Field Communication). For those of you who aren’t familiar with NFC let me break it down for you. Basically, it’s a fancier form of wireless connectivity that is used by such devices as the Samsung Galaxy S III and supposedly saves the operator an immeasurable amount of set up time, because…err…Bluetooth takes so long to set up in the first place?
All that is required of the user to connect the Beats Pill with an NFC capable device is to have said device within range (a few inches away) and it’s just a press of a button from there. Easy? Yes. Worthwhile? Maybe. But, if you are so busy that you can’t afford to spend the extra three seconds it takes to connect via Bluetooth, then you may need to cut a few things out of your day-to-day…just saying.
The last feature I will touch on is the Line in/Line out connectivity. Almost all portable speaker systems have the ability to connect with non-Bluetooth devices, so that is nothing special. But what IS special is the Line out feature. What this means is that you can use the Beats Pill to play on your speakers — wait for it — wirelessly!
This is really cool to me because if you like to play music through your phone like I do, you probably also hate when you get a phone call and have to go all the way across the room to pick it up because it’s connected to your speakers. Well, ladies and gentleman, you can now connect via Bluetooth to your Beats Pill and use a standard 3.5mm auxiliary cable to connect directly to your home audio entertainment system (again — wirelessly)! And it looks good, too.
So overall, I would recommend the Beats Pill to anyone looking for a sleek, powerful, versatile portable speaker system who doesn’t mind the $199 price tag. Not the greatest value for the casual user, but well worth the money if you want to bring the party-to-go mix outside the house.
View it here, listen in-store.