A week with: Beats by Dre Pill

Dre hits the speakers market

Solid sound, wonderful portability but at a stately price: the Beats by Dre Pill

Connectivity: Bluetooth
Range: 30m
Battery: 7 hours
Weight: 0.31kg

What is it?

In the increasingly crowded world of wireless speakers, this is the all-conquering Beats by Dre's attempt on the smaller end of the market occupied by the Jawbone Jambox, among others. Shaped like a tablet – it even comes in a dispensary-style tablet package – this tiny device offers a solid sound and a wonderful portability. It looks great too.

How does it work?

Like Beats' other portable speaker, the much-heftier Beatbox, the Pill connects via Bluetooth to your iOS or Android phone or tablet.

Does it work?

As someone who likes to wander around the house listening to music, I fell immediately for the Pill. Its rubber base means it will sit comfortably anywhere from the ledge of the bath to a dressing table. It's perfect for radio (ie, pairing it with the BBC's excellent iPlayer Radio app) and is capable of filling a room with sound when listening to streamed music via Spotify or iTunes. Its small size (19cm by 4.5cm) means it lacks in bass notes, but for a quick fix – or a soundtrack to a picnic, you'll get over that. You can use it for conference calls too, if that's your bag.

Is it worth the money?

The price-tag, a stately £169.95, accounts for a Beats premium. And, when you can get larger, superior sounding products by brands such as Sony for a similar price, it looks a lot. That said, it's a great package, comes with a cool carry case and sounds – on the whole – great. Mine did come with a US mains plug, but was easily charged via a USB cable.