With sound still not up to scratch, the latest Pill leaves us prescribing better and more affordable rivals It's a bitter pill to swallow for Apple, which has no doubt improved an average speaker line living off the brand's street cred – just not by enough.

Big; clear sound; Can pair speakers; Good integration for Apple users; USB phone charging; Good weight

Price; Struggles at high volume; Rivals are more expressive and dynamic

I had been looking at this for some time and finally purchased one. I am SO pleased with the sound that comes out of this little pill. Others may claim to do the same but this is unbelievable sound. I hook it up to my phone and it works like a charm.

Multiroom aspirations; Decent battery life; Clean, compact design;

Not waterproof; Lacks expression; App not UK-ready yet; Pricey for the performance;

Not worth for the price

If you're in the market for a supremely stylish portable Bluetooth speaker, chances are that you're seriously considering the new Beats Pill+ right now. The Pill+ is the first portable speaker to come out of Beats since Apple purchased the brand a few years ago, and unlike the original and hugely...

The latest Pill from Beats is perfectly tuned and offers incredibly rich and powerful audio for its size. To that effect, this is the best audio experience we've had from a portable Bluetooth speaker of its size.

Balanced beautiful warm audio with vocals that shine; crazy powerful for such a small speaker; app enables you to pair with other Beats Pill+ speakers; stereo mode works terrifically; three-hour charge provides the Beats Pill+ with 12 hours of battery life; doubles as a speakerphone; comes with a...

It's not particularly rugged or waterproof; we sometimes ran into issues re-chaining two speakers together to use the extra modes

Easily the best Beats-branded Bluetooth speaker yet - both in terms of design and sound quality - the Pill+ shows that Apple is taking the audio space seriously since its acquisition of Beats. The Pill+ is still a little ways behind some of the competition though.

Nice; sturdy design; Best Beats sound yet; Can pump out loud tunes

Expensive; Weak bass at low volumes; Can't tweak sound levels

The Beats Pill+ bears the Apple seal of approval, delivers good sound and stylish looks

Beats by Dre's new Pill+ was already in development before Apple bought Beats last year for $3 billion, but the new Bluetooth portable speaker, which hits stores in November for $230, does leverage some Apple technology: Like the iPhone, it charges with an included Lightning cable.

Slightly bigger and shaped differently than the original Pill, the new Pill+ offers better sound and battery life, as well faster charging with an included lightning cable.