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"Bluetooth speakers can be a perfect way to give the music selection on your smartphone or tablet a bit of a volume boost. Simple to connect up and easy to use, the Beats Pill and Ultimate Ears Boom are two of the best. Neither are hugely cheap, however, and both offer slightly different audio experiences. Below is a quick comparison to help you make up your mind. Design The Beats Pill we have on test is in a &amp;#039;love it or hate it&amp;#039; shade of fluorescent green. We think it looks awesome, others might not. It is however a limited edition, so that carries a bit of kudos.  The Ultimate Ears Boom, however, is a much darker grey and black colour, with understated hints of orange in the volume plus and minus buttons. The Beats is of course available in more restrained colours, while the Boom is also available in brighter offerings.  These speakers are just as much a fashion accessory as they are a piece of tech, so make sure you are happy with the looks of whichever you choose. If it was down to us, the Boom has a bit more class to it, plus feels a fair bit more rugged thanks to the matte finish.  The Boom is also water and stain-resistant, which means you don&amp;#039;t need to worry so much when taking it out and about. That said, the Beats Pill does come with that sought-after Beats logo, which is a bonus for some.  We also like the horizontal rather than vertical design, which makes the Beats Pill inherently more stable when laid flat on the ground. Sound Given the size of both these devices, it&amp;#039;s impressive to see exactly what sort of volume levels they can put out. Both are loud enough to be heard out in the park or at the beach, which is exactly what they need to be. Don&amp;#039;t expect decent audio quality from either, however, simply because they don&amp;#039;t have big enough sets of drivers to put out a properly diverse sound.  This is more a battle of volume than quality, but if we did have to pick a winner, the Boom and its 360 sound does grab the title. You do get four one-inch drivers in the Pill and we were expecting plenty of bass given the brand&amp;#039;s heritage, but it just didn&amp;#039;t deliver. The sound is loud but flat, and lacks any proper split between the mid-range and treble. Audio quality on the Ultimate Ears is definitely better and has more range to it, but it&amp;#039;s still not going to rival a smaller hi-fi. Volume will keep most listeners happy in pretty much any environment. Ease of use Both of these Bluetooth speakers are about ease of use. It&amp;#039;s crucial that getting music playback setup is as streamlined a process as possible. Those with an NFC-enabled handset are rewarded here with a simple connection process that involves little more than tapping your phone on the side of either speaker. Otherwise, Bluetooth is your other option. With the Boom, it will automatically search for devices to pair with the first time you turn it on, making connecting phone and speaker very easy.  Beats pairing is done by holding the big &amp;#039;B&amp;#039; logo on the front of the Pill for three seconds. From there you can pair up with the device straight away. We like how Beats have included a straight 3.5mm cable and a line in with the Pill, so you can connect up direct to it should you not have Bluetooth. Both the Beats and Boom can be daisy chained to get a bigger sound. Beats is done through the line out on the back of the Pill, Boom is via an app which enables a &amp;#039;double up&amp;#039; mode. In real-world usage, both aren&amp;#039;t exactly difficult to get up and running. It&amp;#039;s more a case of whether have a phone with NFC or with Bluetooth. Both are simple, NFC is just quicker.  Where the UE Boom takes a major win is with battery life. The Beats Pill can manage seven hours of usage, with the Boom running for a whole 15 hours. This makes a big difference if you plan on spending the day out and using the portable speakers. Value for money At time of writing, the Beats Pill is roughly \u00A3169 ($199.95), with the Ultimate Ears Boom costing exactly the same. For sound quality alone, the UE Boom is better value, we would also say it is put together in a more premium way than the Beats Pill is. Then again, we can&amp;#039;t help but feel like money could&amp;#039;ve been saved with both products&amp;#039; packaging. The Pill in particular is guilty of one of the most overdesigned and elaborate boxes we have ever seen. Ultimate Ears doesn&amp;#039;t run far behind either, however. Compared to other devices, it all depends on what you want. An extra hundred pounds might get you a small all-in-one or a second-hand B&amp;amp;W Zeppelin, which is a much better wireless speaker. But neither are going to be portable. Verdict The Ultimate Ears wins this one, simply because it&amp;#039;s a better device in nearly every respect. Audio quality coupled with longer battery life and useful features like water-resistance make this an ideal portable speaker. The Beats won&amp;#039;t disappoint those who are more into the idea of the brand than the build and audio. It definitely looks good, but the smart purchase is the UE Boom. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/hands-on/news/a509108/beats-pill-vs-ultimate-ears-boom-which-bluetooth-speaker-is-the-best/>