The Chinese company Hisense has recently launched its latest King Kong device. The main selling point of this device is that it is shockproof, dust proof and waterproof. The King Kong has no mind blowing special features but is banking on the durability factor to make this model sell while also is priced at a very affordable value which should get itself into the mid budget consumer fraction.
So let’s see how this phone stacks up in different aspects:
Table of Contents
Design:
The design of this phone is quite a thing at the first look. The black body with a dark brown and gold color scheme makes it look good at the first look. After further observation we find that it’s actually a lightweight phone with a leather backside and two thick rubber strips at the top and bottom of the phone to give it the durability. The thickness is in single digits which is 9.4mm but it does give you the feeling that it’s thicker due to the rubber protection.
Performance:
Performance-wise it looks quite power-packed. It has a 16 GB internal memory and a Micro SD slot that will allow it to expand. Along with that, it comes in Android 4.4 and 2 GB RAM which is quite a good RAM for such a phone and a Snapdragon Quad-Core processor rated at 1.2 GHz which is sufficient.
The low point here is the solitary factor that it’s Android 4.4 and not Lollipop.
Connectivity and ports:
Connectivity wise its Bluetooth 4.0 and 4G LTE. So battery will take a hit but that won’t be a big issue anyways as they have compensated very well for this with a strong rated battery.
Ports are minimal and only for the basic functions which are charging, SIM/Micro SD slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack which is how most smartphones are built nowadays.
Battery:
The battery comes at a strong 3000 mAh. That means that 4G will not drink out your battery because the high rating compensates quite a bit for the draining ability of the fast LTE network that is becoming standard for most smartphones.
The 3000 mAh battery took 2 hours and 55 minutes to charge. It quite a long time but then again its 3000 mAh. Apart from that high value of charge time this battery gives you that much longer usage life. A battery monitor application states 29 hours on standby while Hisense themselves stated 20 hours on standby. Unless stress test use is done this battery for any kind of user will last well beyond a day even with 4G because its rating is higher that most phones in the market.
The low point here is that again depending on how the user feels about inbuilt battery. Nowadays most phones as it is come with inbuilt battery which is the trend but some flagships have removable battery. But then we always end up changing our phones every 2-3 years anyways so this is not really a major roadblock.
Camera and Sound:
Camera is an 8MP back camera and 2MP front camera. The photo quality is not the best in the world for the most obvious reasons which are the spec ratings are lower than what we techies and young generation want. Nowadays most phones take their camera ratings into double digits but then this phone was made with the idea of being affordable and they compromised on a few high specs.
It struggled with image stabilization and low light photography but then again this is not a flagship phone that will have top of the range specifications to it.
The sound of this phone is quite good with the single speaker that it has positioned at the top of the screen. The phone on the loudest volume setting is quite loud and clear which is due to the fact that Hisense has partnered with Dolby Digital for the sound system and that gives it the good quality output that the users hear.
Display:
The display is a 720p 5.0 inches screen display. Again these are not very exciting numbers but this is a mid range device that is only to reach out to the people who cannot afford the higher flagship devices. A test video played on the phone did not really show a bad output as in the colors were bright and video clarity was good. Although in bright sunlight the screen struggled in visibility and that is a surefire disadvantage to people who are out in the sun for their work.
Conclusion:
The conclusion is quite simple really. This is meant to be a budget smartphone aimed at people who would want to have a smartphone but cannot afford a heavy star-studded flagship device which will be priced close to the 3000Dhs mark. At just 999Dhs this phone can do quite a bit while the design is sturdy and completely settles in line with the aim Hisense has which is the affordability of the model and durability of the model. I would go as far as to say that in the similar or cheaper price range we do find better models as well in the market with mostly higher specifications and latest software but if you tend to be a bit clumsy and keep dropping your phone around then this maybe your surefire choice over others.
