Hands-on with HiSense's first quad-core Android phone, the U958

Chinese manufacturer HiSense has taken over Microsoft's old booth at CES, and it's mainly showing off its latest and greatest televisions. But the company has a dirty little secret that not too many gadget fans know: it sells phones and tablets as well. While these devices may not be on the bleeding edge, HiSense's new Android smartphone, the U958, actually sports a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Play processor (the MSM8225Q, to be precise). Aside from the inclusion of Android 4.1, the rest of the spec sheet doesn't impress: a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854×480) display, 5MP rear camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD, 1,700mAh battery, dual-SIM support and a thickness of 9.5mm.

It's pretty clear that the phone is geared primarily toward emerging markets; the specs and overall design seem to indicate that the company's trying to keep costs down to a minimum. To the seeker of high-performance flagship devices, the U958 will likely get lost in the sea of competing budget-friendly phones at CES; we're interested to see, however, if we're witnessing the start of HiSense's attempt to snag up crucial smartphone market share. Check out a few pics of the phone in action below.

Gallery: Hisense U958 hands-on

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Comments