Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV: take one and call Dr. Dre in the morning

Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV take one and call Dr Dre in the morning

The Beats by Dr. Dre badge has usually been attached to headphones and the occasional laptop or smartphone. We've never really seen it attached to dedicated speakers, however, and that's where both an FCC filing and a sighting at UK retailer HMV's online store raise a few eyebrows. The House that Dre Built appears on the edge of launching the Beats Pill, a Bluetooth wireless speaker with four drivers and a shape that more than explains the medicinal name. While we don't know just how much of that signature Beats thump we'll get, we do know from the FCC that the Pill can serve as a speakerphone, carries an aux-in jack and will last for a typical 8.5 hours on its USB-rechargeable lithium-ion battery. There's also signs of a red version of Beats' Mixr headphones coming at the same time. HMV has publicly scoured its pages of any trace of a ship date or price for the Pill, but cached copies point to a £170 ($276) price and a release around September 28th -- not necessarily trustworthy figures, but they may be in the ballpark. Our only question is whether or not we'll get a dose of the Pill in the US.

[Thanks, Germaine]

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Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker spotted at FCC and HMV: take one and call Dr. Dre in the morning originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No more Beats headphones with your HTC? Just what the Dr. ordered

No more Beats headphones with your HTC? Just what the Dr. ordered
Despite all the hype, opening up the API, and recently scooping up a music streaming service, we might have seen the end of Beats brand plugs being bundled in with HTC phones. Martin Fichter, a product executive for the phone manufacturer, told CNET that "If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly," suggesting that the lure of the in-the-box pair just wasn't strong enough for those with a penchant for bass. Perhaps this explains why the whole "Enable Beats" option embedded on the new One series no longer requires the brand's headphones to activate it? Still, if true, the move seems a surprisingly quick turn around on what was originally a much vaunted collaboration. That, or contractual obligations further up the food chain are drawing to a close.

No more Beats headphones with your HTC? Just what the Dr. ordered originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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