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Dr. Dre

New Beats Pill speaker comes with an app

Mike Snider
USA TODAY
A photo of the new Beats Pill+ Bluetooth speakers.

The latest Beats By Dr. Dre speakers has a new look and an app to go along with it.

The new Beats Pill+ wireless Bluetooth speaker ($229.95), available in black and white, will be available at retail and on Apple.com next month. Slightly larger than the original Pill speaker, the Beats Pill+ has two tweeters and two woofers -- the previous model used four small woofers -- for improved sound.

Beats engineers have employed a two-way active crossover, an approach not often used for a small Bluetooth speaker, says company president Luke Wood. "Everything is very specific and concise as to what is going to what speaker," he said. "We think that gives us the control over tonality and the kind of sound field dispersion you don’t get with other technologies."

The speaker, which charges in three hours and has a 12-hour battery life, comes with a lightning cable that connects to its USB port so that you can charge an iPhone or iPad as it's used as a music source.

An image of the Beats Pill+ app.

A new app to use with the Beats Pill+ speakers gives you the option to pair two speakers and have them play in Amplify or Stereo mode. A DJ mode lets you and a friend control what music is playing.

Beats, which was acquired by Apple in July 2014, says it has shipped more than one million Beats Pills worldwide since the product launched in 2012.

By the way, in a product recall announced back in June, consumers who bought the larger Beats Pill XL since January 2014 can return the product for $325 or that amount in Apple Store credit. In rare cases, the product has been found to overheat and pose a fire risk.

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider

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