Released almost a year ago in July 2023, the updated Beats Studio Pro wireless headphones are just $179 in Amazon's limited-time deal right now. In this offer,  you'd be getting a high-quality audio experience for $170 off its standard price of $349. If you're big into percentages, that's 50% off.

Turn your chill vibes to full blast this summer with the enhanced audio experience offered by the Beats Studio Pro. Packed with features such as ANC, Bluetooth connectivity, up to 40 hours of battery life, personal spatial audio, and more, these headphones are ready to bring any adventure to the next level.

In our Beats Studio Pro review, we rave about the audio quality, from the softly booming bass to the soaring tenor in vocal harmonies in songs such as Mary J. Blige’s live “I’m Going Down” performance. 

The classic, sleek design also comes in four different colors; Black, Navy, Deep Brown, and Sandstone, a nice array of neutral colors. 

Start strong this summer with the euphoria of killer audio at a killer price for the Beats Studio Pro.

Today's best Beats Studio Pro deal

The 2023 Beats Studio Pro wireless headphones are discounted for the first time since their July release date. Right now, you can get the Beats Studio Pro for $249 at Amazon. Normally $349, that's $100 in savings and sets an all-time low price for these latest Beats headphones. This is one of the best back to school headphones deals we've seen this month. 

It's also one of the best lowest price Labor Day deals you can snag early. 

Today's best Beats Studio Pro deal

It's Day 2 of Prime Day 2023 and Beats headphones are still up to 54% off at Amazon. Right now, you can get the Beats Studio Buds for just $89 — the lowest price at Amazon. Normally, $149, this deal puts $60 back into your pocket. The new water and sweat resistant Beats Studio Buds Plus are also on sale for $149 ($20 off). 

This is the lowest price we've seen for the Beats Studio Buds at Amazon. It's one of the best Black Friday headphone deals you can get today. If you don't mind spending a little more, you can get the Beats Fit Pro are down to $179 ($20 off) at Amazon. 

Prime Day is ends at midnight so if you see some Beats headphones you like don't hesitate to snap them up. We likely won't see discounts this generous again until Black Friday.

So if you want to pick up some Beats sooner than later, it would behoove you to peruse our favorite Prime Day discounts below. 

Prime Day 2023 headphone deals — Quick links

• Headphones: up to $50% off AirPods, Beats, Bose, Sony & more
• Beats Studio Buds Plus: $169 $149 @ Amazon
• Beats Fit Pro: $199 $179 @ Amazon
• Beats Powerbeats Pro:$249 $149 @ Amazon
• Beat Flex Wireless Earbuds: $69 $39 @ Amazon
• Beats Studio 3 Wireless:$349 $159 @ Amazon
• Beats Solo 3 Wireless Headphones: $199 $114 @ Amazon

Best Prime Day 2023 Beats headphone deals 

The Prime Day Beats Studio Buds Plus price drop you've been waiting for is here! For the first time ever, you can get these latest Beats wireless earbuds for below retail.

For Prime Day, Amazon offers the Beats Studio Buds Plus for $149.That's $20 off their normal price of $169 and of course the lowest price we've seen for these wireless earbuds. Also on sale are the Beats Studio Buds for just $89 ($60 off) if you're looking for sub-$100 headphones. 

These are just two of the best Prime Day deals on Beats headphones available this week. 

The Beats Studio Buds Plus pack rich, premium sound into a pocketable design. They deliver powerful, balanced sound and active noise-cancelling with transparency mode. Enjoy jamming out to your playlist and high-quality calls on a rated battery life of up 36 hours with the included charging case. Beats Studio Buds+ work with Apple and Android devices.

Like many of today's headphones, they support Siri and Google Assistant. This means you can call on your favorite virtual assistant using the voice command, “Hey Siri” or “Hey Google.”

Beats Studio Buds Plus work with Apple and Android devices and offer a free Beats app available as a free download in the App Store and Google Play. 

The Beats Studio Buds Plus are a solid buy, if you're looking for the best AirPods Pro alternative. For more summer savings on must-have tech, check out our Prime Day deals 2023 hub. 

The Beats Solo Pro are up there as some of the best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy right now. That’s why we are beyond excited to share this deal with you, as they have tumbled back down to their lowest ever price.

At the moment, Best Buy has chopped $130 off — making these an absolute steal at just $169.99. And if you’re in the UK, you can save £130 too!

• More: Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones
• Best cheap headphone deals
• Beats Solo Pro review

Beats Solo Pro deal

As you can read in Beats Solo Pro review, the headphones are an excellent pair of on-ear headphones that pump out a balanced, refined sound thanks to the 40mm drivers with advanced acoustics. 

Plus, that big drop in your favourite song remains undisturbed thanks to effective noise cancellation, with the versatility of transition to be switched over to a transparency mode if you’re listening out for some kind of announcement.

Apple’s H1 chip means connecting to your iOS device is a cinch and the listening experience is seamless while maintaining a sky-high battery life of 22 hours. And you can find all of this stuffed into a lightweight construction at just 267g.

Put simply, if you want stellar audio quality in a nicely styled package, the Solo Pros are a good direction to head in.

Powerbeats Pro wireless earbuds are a great AirPods Pro alternative for those who want crystal clear audio on-the-go, made even better with this new deal.

Right now, you can get Powerbeats Pro for just $159 at Best Buy. That is a massive $90 off the eye-catching Lava Red, Moss and Spring Yellow models.

• More: Best wireless earbuds
• Best cheap headphone deals
• Best wireless headphones

The Powerbeats Pro offer a snug fit and amazing sound, along with the impressively easy iOS pairing you’d expect from an Apple-owned headphone brand.

These true wireless earbuds combine IPX4 water resistance and a wrap-around-the-ear design a rugged fitness-focussed build that won’t fall out whatever you do.

Plus, with up to 9 hours of listening time and Apple’s H1 chip built-in, your connection is crystal clear and you can go all day listening to your favourite songs and podcasts.

Want to explore your options before buying a new pair of headphones? Check out our best headphone deals hub!

The days of Bose dominating the noise-cancelling headphone market are over. Sony struck first with the WH-1000XM3 headset, and now Beats by Dre is taking the stage with the Solo Pros, on-ear headphones that produce surprisingly good sound and noise cancellation. Separating the Solo Pros from the competition is Apple's H1 chip, which simplifies pairing and adds unique features to the headphones, including Audio Sharing.

If only the Solo Pros were more comfortable and had a 3.5mm headphone jack, then they'd be a genuine alternative to the Bose 700 headphones. Still, the Solo Pros are an excellent addition to Beats' offerings and are worth their $300 asking price. The cans are also the latest addition to our best noise-cancelling headphones page. 

Beats Solo Pro price and availability

At $299, the Beats Solo Pro aren't cheap, but other noise-cancelling options are even more expensive. Sony's WH-1000XM3 cost $349, and Bose's Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 will run you $399. 

You can buy the Beats Solo Pro at major online retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. You can also get them directly from Apple or Beats by Dre. 

What's in the box?

Beats by Dre ships the Solo Pro with a proprietary Lightning-to-USB-A charging cable, a soft fabric carrying case and a Quick Start guide. 

Beats Solo Pro Design

Boy, these are beautiful in blue. The Solo Pros are a stylish pair of headphones that rock a bold pop of color and some welcome adjustments to an iconic design.

A recognizable undercase "b" logo adorns familiar circular ear cups, which now come in a matte finish. Not only does the surface reduce fingerprints, but it also gives the Solo Pros a more premium, understated appearance. 

In typical Beats fashion, the Solo Pros are available in six colors, including red, dark blue, light blue, ivory and gray. If you prefer a discreet look, you can go with the black variant. I would personally opt for our dark blue review unit. I love how the matte-blue surfaces contrast with the reflective blue arms and turquoise branding on the band. 

I always feel weird wearing on-ear headphones, but my fears of looking (more) dorky were overblown. I wouldn't feel embarrassed to wear to the Solo Pros on my commute through New York City.

Apple must have had a hand in designing the Solo Pros, because they don't have a 3.5mm headphone port. Without a headphone jack, the Solo Pros aren't compatible with even the most modern in-flight infotainment systems. This wouldn't be an issue if Beats made (and included) its own Bluetooth adapter. Instead, you'll need to rely on a third-party solution, like RHA's wireless flight adapter, if you want to use the Solo Pros on an airplane. 

MORE: Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones | Laptop Mag

At 9.4 ounces, the Solo Pros are lighter than the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones (9.7 ounces) but a bit heavier than the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (9 ounces). 

Beats Solo Pro Comfort

The Solo Pros aren't the first pair of headphones I'd grab for a long flight. Going from my Sony WH-1000XM3 to the Solo Pros was jarring. My ears immediately told my brain to take the Beats headset off. 

The discomfort I felt was partially because the Solo Pros are on-ear headphones, so the pads made direct contact with the edges of my ears instead of going around them (like on over-ear headphones). 

But that's no excuse for the Solo Pros' aggressive clamping force or the inward pressure they put on my head. After I'd worn these headphones for a few minutes, the outer edges of my ears tingled and I felt a bit of pain. 

After breaking the headphones in, I was able to listen to From Indian Lakes' 59-minute album Dimly Lit without reaching for another pair of headphones. Still, I felt instant relief when I took the cans off, something I never experience wearing the WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700s. 

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But just because the Solo Pros don't work for me, that doesn't mean you'll have the same gripes. I'm sensitive to clamping force, and I suspect most people won't be as bothered by the Solo Pros. In fact, Laptop Mag Assistant Managing Editor Sherri L. Smith got used to the pressure enough to listen to the Solo Pros for a few hours without experiencing discomfort. 

Beat Solo Pro Controls 

Hidden buttons embedded in the exterior of the right ear cup allow you to control certain features directly from the headphone. 

Pressing on the center of the b logo on the right ear cup pauses and plays music or answers and ends calls. Double-tapping the logo skips to your next song, while triple-tapping starts a song over or takes you to the previous track. If you'd like to raise or lower the volume while away from your device, you can do so by pushing the top or bottom of the ear cups. To summon a voice assistant (Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant), just press and hold the center button or say "Hey, Siri" when connected to an iPhone. 

Beats essentially turned the entire circular ear cup into a direction pad that rocks back and forth. It's a clever mechanism that worked reliably during my testing, but I prefer touch-sensitive controls. Pushing anything toward your ear is never a good idea. Along with the added pressure, the buttons made a loud clicking sound that disrupted my music.

With the small, circular button under the left ear cup, you can switch between noise cancelling and transparency mode. You can also press and hold the button to connect or disconnect a device. 

Noise cancelling and transparency mode

The Solo Pros did a great job of blocking out the persistent noise of my daily commute through Brooklyn and Manhattan, even if they didn't reach Bose-level quiet.  

The low rumble of the '70s-era subway train as it clanked through the city was reduced to a quiet growl. I only had to crank tunes to about 50% volume to mask the remaining noise. 

In the office, the Solo Pros reduced my colleagues' candy-fueled chatter to a soft whisper. I was impressed to discover that my colleagues' voices were quieter when I listened to the Solo Pros than when I wore the WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700 headphones. That can be attributed to the Solo Pros' on-ear design, which creates some amount of passive noise cancellation on top of the active technology.

Just don't expect the Solo Pros (or any noise-cancelling headphones) to remove all noise. Rather, lower-frequency sounds will be muted while higher sounds are only muffled. 

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In general, I found that the Beats Solo Pro cancelled out only slightly less ambient sound than my WH-1000XM3s, an impressive feat for on-ear headphones. But neither headset tops the Bose 700 headphones, the leader in this category. 

With a click of a button, you can shift from noise cancelling to transparency mode, which has the opposite effect, filtering in more ambient sound so you can be aware of your surroundings. This is especially useful in an airplane, when you want to listen to music in peace but still hear flight attendants as they come around with food or drink. 

Pairing and Audio Sharing

Apple's H1 chip gives the Solo Pros a leg up on the competition. Pairing the Solo Pros is as easy as unfolding the ear cups and holding the headphones next to an iPhone. I did this with my iPhone 8 Plus and after a split second, a pop-up appeared on the phone asking whether I wanted to connect the cans. Within seconds, I was all set up and listening to music. 

The Solo Pro headphones support Audio Sharing, a new iOS 13 feature that lets you wirelessly share songs, podcasts or movies with someone also wearing a set of Beats or AirPod headphones. 

This is basically a high-tech version of when you used to split earbuds with your high school friends so you could both listen to the same song.

The feature worked seamlessly. I simply paired both the Solo Pro headphones and AirPods Pro to an iPhone 8 Plus, then tapped a small audio-sharing icon in the iOS Control Center. This linked the two headphones, so when I played Thrice's "Only Us" on Google Play Music, the song played on both audio devices. 

MORE: 5 Best Headphones with Their Own Apps | Laptop Mag

Audio Sharing works only with an iPhone running iOS 13 or later and is compatible with any headphones or earbuds with an H1 or W1 processor. That includes the AirPods, AirPods Pro, Beats Solo Pro, Powerbeats Pro, Studio3 Wireless, BeatsX, Powerbeats 3 Wireless and Solo3 Wireless. 

Audio quality 

These aren't the Beats I remember. 

Tuned to have a more-balanced sound, the 40mm drivers in the Solo Pros can handle any genre of music you throw at them, not just bass-heavy tracks. 

Tight, punchy thuds replace the muddy, overextended bass that once plagued Beats headphones. Without a low range dominating the sonic presentation, mid and high notes breathe with improved detail and clarity. 

That's not to say that the Solo Pros can't crank out a good amount of bass. The epic bass line in Jay-Z's "No Church in the Wild" slammed my ears with a serious punch. The midbass notes were nicely balanced, but the loose, low-bass thuds could still use some tightening. 

The sound quality was closer between the Solo Pro and the Bose 700s than I expected. Ben Howard's hushed vocals in the song "Promise" were rich and detailed on both sets of cans, and there was a crispness to the twang of the acoustic guitar. 

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However, the Solo Pros have a narrower soundstage, so the flurry of noises in more sonically complicated music genres, like EDM or rock, can sound a bit congested. The Bose 700s' wider presentation made a difference when I listened to Glass Animals' "Black Mambo." Dave Bayley's voice was clearer, and the instruments sounded more defined on the Bose than on the Solo Pros.  

While I was never blown away by the Solo Pros' sonic abilities, there wasn't any genre of music — acoustic, hip-hop or rock — that didn't sound great on them. 

Call quality

"You sound OK," my colleague said when I called him through the Solo Pro headphones. The two microphones the Solo Pros use for calls did a good job capturing my voice, so my colleague didn't have to ask me to speak up or strain to hear what I was saying. My voice sounded more muffled on the Solo Pros than through the Bose 700s, but the Beats headphones get the job done. 

Beats Solo Pro app

Beats offers a companion app for Android phones, but there's no good reason to use it. The spartan interface shows you the Solo Pros' remaining battery life and lets you switch between noise cancelling, transparency mode and off (which you can do from the headphones anyway). Among a host of missing features is an equalizer, so you can't adjust the Solo Pros' sound signature to fit your preferences. 

Battery life, charging and Bluetooth connectivity 

For such small headphones, the Solo Pros offer great battery life. With ANC turned on, the Solo Pros last for 22 hours on a charge. If you turn the battery-hungry feature off, you can listen to music for 40 hours. 

In those rare moments when the Solo Pros' battery gets low, Beats' Fast Fuel technology gets you 3 hours of listening in just 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the Solo Pros charge via a proprietary Lightning connector, not the ubiquitous USB-C cord. iPhone owners won't have too many gripes about carrying around another Lightning cord but this could be a deal-breaker for Android users. 

The Solo Pros use Bluetooth 5.0, the latest wireless standard, which offers a stable connection from longer distances (up to 50 feet without anything between you and the source). I had no problems listening to music on the opposite end of the office when connected to my work computer. 

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It was only when I turned a corner, putting a wall between the PC and me, that the sound cut out. I was also relieved when the Solo Pros avoided stumbling over any interference in a crowded subway car. 

Bottom line

Beats headphones aren't just about looking cool anymore. The Solo Pros are proof of that. This sleek pair of on-ear headphones pumps out refined, balanced sound and features effective noise cancellation and a nifty transparency mode. Apple brings its H1 chip to the Solo Pros, which enables seamless pairing and a fun audio-sharing feature for when you want to listen with friends. 

I just wish the Solo Pros were more comfortable. My ears became fatigued by the pressure of the headphones' clamping force. And while the Solo Pros' battery life is great, it's seriously time to ditch the Lightning cable in favor of USB-C. Speaking of ports, the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack makes it difficult to recommend these headphones to travelers who use in-flight entertainment.

So, should you buy the Solo Pros? If you don't mind their on-ear design, the Solo Pros are an excellent pair of noise-cancelling headphones. But if you can spare another $100, we recommend the Bose 700s, which are a lot more comfortable and have better sound quality. 

Beats By Dre has updated its headphone line with the new Studio, an active noise-cancelling model that improves on its predecessor in many ways. At $299, however, you're still paying for Dr. Dre's name and style and sound that's tweaked to fit modern (read loud and bass-heavy) tastes. Find out if these cans truly deliver.

Design

Available in black, white, red, or blue, the Beats Studio continues rapper/producer Dr. Dre's line of hip-hop, high-style headphones. At 9.2 ounces, the cans are significantly lighter than the original Studio headphones (14.1 ounces). They're also lighter than the Logitech UE 6000 (9.7 ounces), though the Bose QuietComfort 15 is a featherlike 6.8 ounces.

Despite the headphones' lighter weight than the original Studio headphones, the new version does not feel flimsy. The soft leather earpads now match the headband color, and the cans retain the folding headband so they fit nicely into the included hardshell case. The glossy exterior picks up fingerprints easily, but that's not noticeable unless you get one of the darker colors, and the package includes a cleaning cloth.

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You get your choice of cables -- one with an iOS-compatible mic/controller and one without -- which plug into the bottom of the left earcup. The included microUSB cable connects to the bottom of the right earcup so you can charge the built-in (nonremovable) rechargeable battery via the supplied wall plug or any USB port.

The power button on the right earcup activates the 5-LED battery meter on the bottom of the cup so you know how much juice is left; the battery is rated for about 20 hours per charge.

On the left earcup, the "b" is actually a button that turns on an automatic mode, which shuts the power off when you remove the cable from the earcup (but not when you remove the other end of the cable from your music player) and turns it back on when you plug the cable back in. Although it would be more convenient if it worked when you unplug the other end of the cable, this is still a very handy feature.

Comfort

Click to EnlargeThe Studio's leather earpads are very comfortable and let less sound leak out than the previous version of the Studio headphones. Although the oblong pads are soft and the headband tension is excellent, these headphones don't provide the roomy cave-like experience that the Bose QuietComfort15's do, nor are they sculpted like the Logitech UE6000, which feel like they give ears a bit more space. The speakers are placed very close to your ears, so you'll feel the fabric that covers them.

Noise Cancellation

Click to EnlargeThe Studio's rechargeable battery keeps the noise cancellation and audio going for up to 20 hours per charge, but like the Bose cans (which are rated to last 35 hours), the Beats stops playing audio when the power runs out. With the Bose, you can simply swap out the AAA battery, but the Beats requires an outlet or portable charger. That's a major concern for many listeners on long trips where they may not have access to power outlets or USB ports. The UE 6000, by comparison, is rated for 40 hours with its dual AAA batteries, and you can still listen to music when you run out of juice.

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The noise cancellation on the Beats Studio operates in two modes. With the cable plugged into the earcup, the noise cancellation is less active, letting you hear a bit of what's going on around you; unplug the cable (and turn the power on if the headphones are in Auto Mode) and the noise cancellation gets a tiny bit stronger. Still it isn't particularly impressive in either mode, and although it's slightly better than the Logitech UE6000, the Studio doesn't come anywhere close to the Bose QC15's nearly black silence.

Audio

Click to EnlargeThe Beats Studio can crank music to dangerous decibel levels -- far louder than the Bose QuietComfort15 is capable of -- though overall the detail isn't quite five-star. An on-board chip processes the sound, tweaking it to conform to the general tastes of the headphones' namesake. These cans perform well on rock and hip hop, with powerful bass that doesn't suffer from the muddiness that so many other hip-hop-inspired headphones do. Tracks such as Dr. Dre's "Still D.R.E." have lots of low-end punch in the bass drum and synth and sound lively and engaging on the Beats, with tighter and less exaggerated bass than on the Logitech UE6000.

Rock tunes such as Tom Petty's "You And I Will Meet Again" and Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" sounded good, with driving bass and crisp guitars. However, vocals come through noticeably better than on the Logitech UE6000.

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On acoustic jazz tracks such as John Coltrane's "Blue Train," the piano got a bit buried in the mix compared with the Bose and Logitech headphones, but Paul Chambers' upright bass sounded strong and tight and the horns had plenty of presence. On an excerpt of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, the overall balance was okay, but the instruments all sounded compressed (in the studio sense, not the digital sense), so the sense of space got somewhat lost. The trumpet attacks and cymbals aren't as clear and crisp as with the Bose QC15 or regular "studio" cans like the Shure SRH-840 or Sennheiser HD280 Pro.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeThere's no denying the appeal of the new Beats Studio's hip styling and muscular sound. These are not for audio purists -- they deliberately color the sound in favor of aggressive styles of music. Travelers can do better on the noise cancellation front (nothing beats the Bose QC15 in that department). Also remember that when its battery dies, the music stops.But for cruising around on the street and listening to some thumping tracks -- and looking good doing it -- the Beats Studio are a good choice.

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After establishing a firm grasp in the headphone market, Beats by Dr. Dre is turning its attention to the portable speaker world. The $199 Beats Pill portable speaker combines the company's patented audio technology with a bold minimalist design that delivers quite the aural wallop. But in such a crowded field, is this just what the doctor ordered?

Design

If it were an actual pill, the 7.5 x 1.8-inch, 10.8 ounce Beats Pill would be impossible to swallow. However, the portable speaker is lighter than both the Jabra Solemate (6.8 x 2.8 x 2.5 inches, 22.4 ounces) and the Monster ClarityHD Micro (7 x 3.25 x 1.5 inches, 13.3 ounces). The Pill slipped into most large purses with ease.

Click to EnlargeThe cylindrical speaker rocks the fire-engine red we've come to expect from the Beats by Dr. Dre brand. The Pill's front is dominated by a see-through grille that shows of the four speakers underneath. A thick soft-touch band sandwiched by a pair of shiny thin bands sit in the middle of the grille, and wrap around to the back of the device. The speaker's back and bottom also have a red soft-touch finish. A flat soft-touch foot extrudes slightly from the bottom, keeping the speaker from shaking itself off your desk or table.

MORE: Hip-Hop Headphones Compared: Can Anything Beat the Dr. Dre Beats?

The Pill is also available in white or black for people with more subdued color palettes.

Click to EnlargeAudio in and out jacks, a Bluetooth status light and a microUSB port sit on the rear of the device. The Beats button in the center of the speaker pulls double-duty as the Play/Pause, Answer/Ignore calls and Bluetooth pairing button. The band also holds a pair of volume buttons and the all-important power button. A gray icon between the power and volume up button indicates where to place your phone or tablet for NFC pairing.

To protect your $199 investment, the Pill comes with a sturdy hard-shell carrying case shaped like, you guessed it, a pill. There's also a 3.5mm input cable, a microUSB cord and AC adapter.

Setup and Ease of Use

Click to EnlargeWe paired the Pill with a Samsung Galaxy Note II, iPhone 4s and a Nokia Lumia 920. Placing the speaker into pair mode is as simple as pressing the Beats button for 1 to 2 seconds. The iPhone 4s connected in 5 seconds while the Note II and Lumia 920 finished in 7 and 9 seconds, respectively. Pairing with a Dell XPS 13 notebook took only 4 seconds.

Connecting using NFC was even faster, delivering nearly instantaneous pairing on the Galaxy Note II and the Lumia 920. The Pill can remember up to eight paired devices.

Unlike the ClarityHD Micro and the Solemate, the Pill doesn't employ a voice guidance system to assist with the pairing process. Once connected, the Pill lets out a cheery little chirp.

The volume buttons adjusted volume as expected. The multifunction Beats button performed its duties admirably. A quick press of the button answered incoming phone calls. Holding the button down for approximately 2 seconds ignored calls. We were disappointed that Beats' design team didn't add buttons to skip forward or backwards through tracks.

Audio Quality

Click to EnlargeThe Pill's quad of speakers blanketed our test room in loud, crisp audio. In a side-by-side test with the Jabra Solemate, the Pill was the clear-cut winner.

We were impressed with the audio quality on Queen Latifah's rendition of "Close Your Eyes." Her warm alto blended perfectly with the clear strumming of the bass and the rich chords of the piano. We also heard minute details such as the delicate tinkle of the triangle and the gentle dusting of the cymbals. Minnie Riperton's classic, "Loving You" was just as clear, right down to the birds chirping in the background and the artist's legendary whistle register.

However, the Pill does lack bass. Whereas the Solemate's bass was overwhelming, the Pill doesn't sound like it made an attempt. It's weird for a company that's built its empire on bass-rattling audio to bungle the lows.

Listening to Dr. Dre's "The Next Episode," we heard crescendoing trumpets and the deliberate plucks of a guitar. However, the bass fell flat, robbing the song of a key element. We heard the same lack of bass on Kanye West's "Mercy" and Kendrick Lemar's "Backseat Freestyle."

Speakerphone

When not busting out the jams, the Beats Pill also functions as a competent speakerphone. When a call comes in, the speaker paused the track and beeped to alert us.

Calls on both ends were relatively loud, but there were hints of distortion. We could not, however, ignore the 3 to 4 second delays when speaking. During some of our test calls, the conversation became awkward as we had to wait for the speaker to transmit the audio.

We were disappointed that features such as voice command and call announcement, which are available on the ClarityHD Micro speaker, are missing on the Pill.

Battery Life and Bluetooth

Click to EnlargeBeats by Dr. Dre claims that the Pill portable speaker's Lithium-ion battery can last 7 hours. During our testing, we were still going strong after 4 hours of nonstop play. The ClarityHD Micro, by comparison, lasted nearly 6 hours, surpassing its estimated 5-hour battery life. The Pill also has a 30-minute auto shutoff feature to preserve battery life. A white LED light around the microUSB port acts as a battery indicator. When the battery needs to be recharged, the light begins to blink red.

Similar to most Bluetooth speakers on the market, the Pill has an estimated range of 30 feet. When connected to an iPhone 4s, we were astounded that the speaker still worked 105 feet away in a clear hallway in our office. The audio remained loud and clear with only a small amount of sputtering. However, the Solemate worked at an even more impressive distance of 140 feet.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeAudiophiles might turn up their noses at the Pill, but the speaker delivers impressive sound quality for such a relatively small package. For the same $199 price tag, consumers can pick up the Monster ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth speaker, which offers voice command and a better balance of bass and volume. However, consumers looking for a fun design and solid audio can take one Pill and call us in the morning.

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HTC puts audio quality front and center with the Rezound, the company's first smartphone for the U.S. with integrated Beats Audio. When paired with the bundled earphones, the technology makes music sound like it was originally intended instead of a compressed mess. This $299 Verizon 4G Android phone is also the first for the carrier to feature a sharp 720p HD display. Does the Rezound do enough to make you forget about the Droid RAZR and the Galaxy Nexus?

Design

Measuring 0.5 inches thick and weighing 6 ounces, the HTC Rezound feels solid but is quite plump compared with other high-end handsets. For instance, the Motorola Droid RAZR (0.3 inches, 4.5 ounces) and the Samsung Galaxy S II (0.4 inches, 4.8 ounces) look practically wafer-thin next to the Rezound. The Droid Bionic comes closest to the Rezound's profile (5 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches, 5.6 ounces).

On the plus side, you can tell that HTC took pains to design the Rezound with a Beats flavor. The phone's rectangular shape has attractively softened edges. Though there's no metal used, the Rezound's glossy black and gray plastic facade radiates conservative sophistication. Capacitive Android buttons (Home, Menu, Back, and Search) under the handset's 4.3-inch screen glow in a playful red.

Click to Enlarge

Flipping the HTC Rezound over reveals the circular Beats symbol tastefully painted in red just above Verizon's subtle gray 4G LTE logo. More aggressively styled, the rear cover sports a raised hump, similar to the Droid Incredible 2, that masks the device's thickness. The back's soft-touch surface makes it easy to grip and repels fingerprints. A red ring outlines the 8-megapixel camera lens, which is joined by a dual-LED flash.

Opening the battery cover reveals transparent red plastic with circuitry peeking through and a crimson battery pack. There's a roomy 16GB microSD card, but accessing it requires that you remove the battery. Controls on the HTC Rezound are minimal, with just a tiny power key on top next to the headphone jack and a thin volume rocker on the right edge. Both buttons lie flush against the phone's surface, making them tough to press.

Display

Click to EnlargeThe Rezound is the first smartphone sold through a U.S. carrier with a 720p (1280 x 720) display. Those extra pixels made watching the HD YouTube trailer for Hugo a delight: Brick and wrought-iron train station backgrounds were crisply rendered along with billowing clouds of stream from locomotives. Playback was smooth, too, with no stuttering or hiccups, even when streaming over 4G LTE indoors.

Pixels aren't everything, though. Though the Samsung Galaxy S II's 4.5-inch screen has a lower resolution of 800 x 480, its Super AMOLED Plus display technology made the same trailer more engaging thanks to more vibrant colors. The Rezound had a higher measured brightness at 278 lux, verse 260 for the Galaxy S II.

The Rezound's display is also better for viewing websites, such as the full desktop version of The New York Times. We could see an extra column of text compared to viewing the site on the Galaxy S II's display.

Beats Audio

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Though it's been found on HP laptops for a few years, Beats Audio (a digital processing technology) makes its smartphone debut on the Rezound. In addition to the software inside the phone, the Rezound comes with a set of premium Beats earbuds; the audio processing kicks in automatically when the Rezound detects a Beats-compliant headset.

When the phone's music player is running, users have the option to toggle Beats on and off, but it's not compatible with other music apps. For example, while we were listening to tracks via Slacker and the Google Music app, activating Beats processing or adjusting its settings wasn't possible. When we connected our set of Marshall test headphones, the Rezound let us use either Beats audio or the HTC enhancer solution within the default music application. With the Beats earbuds inserted, only Beats Audio is listed.

Both the HTC Enhancer and Beats Audio improve audio quality, but the latter did a better job at enhancing higher tones. Bass, too, was more driving using Beats Audio, but it sounded cleaner, and didn't overwhelm tracks. When listening to Miles Davis' "Freddie Freeloader," bass wasn't as muddy using Beats Audio, and Bill Evans' piano solos were crisper. Sadly, adjusting EQ settings manually isn't possible.

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With a bright red color, the earbuds have a premium look, and they come with multiple soft tips. The corded earbuds also have controls for skipping forward and back through tracks and answering calls using its microphone. Unfortunately, there's no in-line volume control, which is a huge oversight.

The earbuds served up impressive audio quality with a wide frequency range. While listening to the hip-hop classic "Pacifics" by Digable Planets we enjoyed a healthy dose of bass, warm vocals, rich horns, crisp hand claps, and tinkling bells. "Forget If You Can" by Billie Holiday had a similar amount of depth, and we clearly heard rich trumpet solos, clarinet refrains, soft drum whisks, and Billie's satiny voice.

Audio piped through the Rezound's large rear stereo speaker had similarly pleasing audio qualities with enough volume to fill a quiet room. While the speaker doesn't get extremely loud, it doesn't distort at its highest setting either.

Keyboard

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Those familiar with HTC's other handsets will find an identical typing experience on the Rezound. We liked punching out messages on this layout, with large, well-spaced keys and just a touch of haptic feedback. Almost every key doubles as an often-used number or symbol. Trace, an input method similar to Swype that lets you form words by drawing lines through letters, is installed but isn't activated by default.

Software and Interface

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Android and HTC Sense fans alike will certainly appreciate the Rezound's software. The phone runs the company's latest iteration of Sense UI, version 3.5, on top of Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. Sense 3.5 adds the ability to delete home screens plus an updated browser with a cleaner look.

Like on the HTC Rhyme and HTC Sensation, a new lock screen displays a digital clock with time and date plus icons for Camera, Mail, Messages, and Phone. Pulling a virtual ring from the bottom to the center of the screen wakes up the handset. Dragging any of the icons directly into the ring launches that specific app.

There are seven customizable home screens to choose from, and swiping left or right flips through them. A finger pinch opens an aerial view of all seven screens for fast navigation. The notification drawer includes a couple of features you won't find on standard Android handsets. There's a list of recent apps up top for switching between programs, and a tab for Quick Settings down below for engaging airplane mode and toggling other settings.

The App menu on this and other HTC Sense phones looks dated to us, with unnecessary Downloaded, Frequent, and Verizon Wireless tabs at the bottom of the screen. It's time for HTC to modernize this menu.

Apps

Besides the typical bundle of Verizon software such as VZ Navigator, VCAST Music, and VCAST videos, the HTC Rezound includes Kindle for Blockbuster movie rentals and Kindle for purchasing and reading eBooks. Polaris Office lets users open and edit common file formats, such as Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, and an app called Scan reads QR codes using the Rezound's camera.

As per usual, HTC adds its own software to the mix. For instance, the FriendStream widget combines all your social media updates into one feed. And the HTC Watch app provides access to video titles including movies and TV shows. For example, Transformers: Dark Side of The Moon costs $3.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy.

Click to EnlargeWeb and 4G Data

Connecting to Verizon's LTE network, the HTC Rezound turned in blistering data speeds on our tests. At a coffee shop near our office in downtown Manhattan, the phone pulled down data at an average of 28.3 Mbps. Uploads at the same location clocked in at a remarkably swift 5.8 Mbps. Out in Queens, speeds were slower but still impressive, with downloads averaging of 16.2 Mbps and 5.5 Mbps uploads. That's much better than numbers turned in by the Motorola Droid RAZR (12.3 Mbps down, 5.8 Mbps up) and the Droid Bionic (11.6 Mbps down, 3.4 Mbps up).

The HTC Rezound also proved very swift when loading websites, thanks to the combined might of its dual-core Snapdragon processor and LTE data radio. Mobile versions of sites such as ESPN and CNN.com took just more than 2 seconds to launch. Full desktop versions of NYTimes.com and Laptopmag.com fired up in about 5 to 6 seconds. These scores are among the fastest we've seen from a Verizon phone.

To share its data connection, the HTC Rezound can operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 10 devices. A dedicated app easily enables this feature so users don't have to dig through the phone's menus. The service costs an extra $20 a month for 2GB of data.

Performance

Equipped with a dual-core 1.5-GHz Snapdragon CPU and 1GB of RAM, the HTC Rezound held its own against other Android superphones. The handset turned in a Benchmark CPU score of 3,120, enough to edge past the Motorola Droid Bionic (2,955, 1.2-GHz TI OMAP 4430), but not the Droid RAZR (3,802, 1.2-GHz OMAP 4430). The Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile) also outpaced the Rezound on this test, notching 3,365 using its 1.5-GHz dual-core Qualcomm S3.

The Rezound's score of 7,331 on An3DBench (a test that measures 3D graphics performance), also lagged behind the Droid RAZR (7,412) but managed to push past the Droid Bionic's score of 6,990. Samsung's Galaxy S II (T-Mobile) squeaked by the Rezound here, scoring 7,394.

In everyday use, the HTC Rezound felt agile and responsive, opening apps and flipping through menu screens with great speed.

Camera and Camcorder

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Just like HTC's Amaze 4G, the Rezound boasts an impressive 8-MP camera that's fast. The phone's autofocus takes less than a second, and captured images almost instantly. We were generally pleased with the image quality, but colors appeared less vibrant than they did on other phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S II. For instance, yellow flowers and orange pumpkins lacked the same punch. Low-light pictures, though, were well exposed, and the camera's dual-flash system didn't blow out subjects.

The Rezound's camera offers a great number of settings and cool effects, such as Dots, Posterize, and Vintage Warm. There are special shooting modes too, such as Action Burst, Backlight HDR, and Panorama.

The 1080p HD video footage of city streets we shot had plenty of detail as well, but again colors weren't as saturated as we would have liked.

The Rezound also has a front-facing 2MP camera for video calls. On our tests using Skype, callers video chatting over 4G LTE said our image appeared sharp with no visible blur.

Call Quality and Battery Life

Voices sounded clear and warm during multiple test calls on the Rezound. The earpiece was loud, but callers could tell we were calling from a mobile line. Callers actually said we sounded better via the speakerphone, provided we didn't move too far away from the handset.

The good news is that the HTC Rezound's battery life is much longer than the Thunderbolt's, with the device lasting just 5 hours and 2 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test (web surfing over 4G LTE). The Thunderbolt only lasted 3:56 over 4G.

By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile) managed a much longer 7:38 while running our benchmark on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network. That said, the Motorola Droid RAZR ran its battery down to 30 percent after just 3.5 hours of informal use. We'll update this review with a formal comparison between the RAZR and Rezound soon, but the bottom line is that you probably won't make it through a full day on a charge.

Verdict

The Rezound has everything you want in a top-notch Android phone--blazing 4G LTE, 720p display, and a very capable 8-MP camera--plus Beats Audio for maximizing your listening pleasure. We just wish that the design were slimmer and that Beats Audio worked with third-party apps and Google Music downloads. Verizon Wireless customers have two other very compelling options. The Droid RAZR sports a much sleeker design for the same price along with slightly faster performance. And the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus does 720p while packing Google's new-and-improved Ice Cream Sandwich OS. Nevertheless, if you like HTC Sense, the HTC Rezound will be sure to please.