The new Beats Pill is a brilliant little speaker for all kinds of reasons. Chief among them probably is that you get a very capable Bluetooth speaker for not a ton of money.
In a lot of ways, and as you’ve read in our Beats Pill review, the version remains simple. You pair your phone, play your music, and Bob’s your uncle. But despite having just three buttons and that same basic shape we’ve loved for years, there are a few decidedly deceptive features that you might well miss — or that might send you scrambling for the manual.
And there are a number of things the diminutive Beats Pill can do that competitors can’t.
So here are our favorite Beats Pill tips and tricks, for the 2024 model.
I love the lanyard on the Beats Pill. It makes it easy to carry, and gives you a way to hang it from places that might not otherwise support a speaker.
But there are times in which I’d prefer to not have the little rope dangling off the side. Maybe it’s for aesthetics — or maybe the thing’s just in the way.
No matter the reason — and forgive us for stating what is nearly completely obvious — you can remove the lanyard. Just feed the long end back through the loop. (And reverse the process to put it back on.) It’s another simple feature that makes the Beats Pill great.
This will tie in to way the buttons work — which we have listed below if you want to skip ahead. But it’s worth a reminder that the Beats Pill can serve as a portable battery charger, which is always a good thing. Beats doesn’t give the exact battery capacity of the Pill, but suffice to say it’s almost certainly greater than that of your phone.
Here’s how to get the Beats Pill to charge your phone: With the speaker turned off, plug one end of the cable into your phone, and the other into the Beats Pill. Then press the power button three times. (Note that you can play music while your phone is charging. Nice.)
OK, here’s more on the Power button. Yes, it turns the Beats Pill off and on, but that’s just the start.
The Center button — it’s the button between the power button and the volume buttons — has a lot going on, too. It’ll control a lot of the basic functionality of the Beats Pill, and it also is how you’ll get the Beats Pill to launch into some of its more interesting features.
That’s a surprising number of features for a little Bluetooth speaker, indeed.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.