Hisense, ready to rock 

I’ve just spent the weekend with some pretty impressive hardware… but before you assume something untoward, let me put you straight… it was actually the latest smartphone Hisense has on offer, the C30 Rock. 

Design

Highly robust, this triple threat is shock, dust and water resistant.

The Hisense C30 Rock is IK04 level shock resistant. lumascape.com explains: it’s protected against 0.5 joules impact, equivalent to the impact of 0.25kg mass dropped from 200mm above the impacted surface. Basically, if you drop the phone or it falls off the counter, it’ll survive. It also carries an IP68 certification, that says the device is safeguarded against dust and water – simply put, it will survive a quick 30-minute dip in water that’s up to 1.5 m deep. Just reiterate though, the Hisense C30 is not designed for frequent underwater operation. The IP68 rating strictly indicates that the mobile phone is not capable of being submerged under pure water for more than 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5m. As I said, it’ll survive a dip.

Not just a pretty face and trendy look, this device sports a metal frame and a soft rubber outer-casing which ensures its durability. Also, all three control buttons, power up, volume up/down, and the shutter-release button are all on the right side of the phone. I found that quite handy, especially when turning the phone to take landscape pics.

The C30 Rock also has a hybrid dual nano SIM and microSD card slot, which means the device can either accommodate two SIM cards, or a SIM and a microSD card.

Performance

Boasting a 5.2” full HD display that offers a 424 pixels per inch (ppi), the C30 Rock is powered by an efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core 64-bit processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. Multi-task processing is a pleasure.

With the latest Android 7 (Nougat) and Vision UI 4.0, the C30 Rock comes with plenty of battery and data saving modes to ensure more up-time, while aiming to stretch those data bundles as far as possible.

The C30 Rock features a 16 megapixel back camera and a five-megapixel front facing wide angle camera. The shooting features include Phase Detection autofocus which reaches its target in just 0.1 seconds. There is also a range of camera modes to ensures your selfie game remains strong! I found the camera a bit sensitive when trying to focus – a tiny shake or an awkward hold of the camera can end in the blurry pic.

Another noteworthy element of the Hisense C30 Rock is its impressive 3000mAh battery alongside the quick-charge functionality – reducing waiting time for your phone to reach full-charge. I haven’t had to charge the C30 in three days and I’ve been dabbling in the cremonial weekend entertainment apps like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The phone now is, however, getting close now to needing some juice.

Price

Available at retailers nationwide, as well as selected online retailers, the Hisense C30 Rock sells for the recommended retail price of R4 499.

According to Hisense, the C30 Rock will rock you and I’m very impressed at the quality and design of the phone for this kind of price tag. I loved the  “You are not one-dimensional, and nor should your phone be. The Hisense C30 Rock is all about living life.”

Hisense C30 Rock Specifications

Model:                      Hisense C30 Rock

Protection:               IP68 Certified, waterproof and dustproof

IK04 Level shockproof

SIM:                           Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano+ Nano/microSD)

Dimensions:            153 x 74.86 x 7.95mm

Weight:   153g

OS:                             Android 7.0 Nougat

User Interface:       Vision UI 4.0

Screen size:             5.2” Full HD (1080 × 1920 pixels)

<350 nit brightness

16 million colours

Chipset:   Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 MSM8937

Processor:                Octa-Core (4 × 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 + 4 × 1.1 GHz ARM Cortex-A53)

Storage: 32GB, plus external MicroSD card support up to 128GB (uses SIM 2 slot)     

Memory:                  3GB

Rear Camera:         16 Megapixels

Phase Detection autofocus

Quick focus, less than 0.1s

Dual-LED Flash

f2.0 aperture

Video: 1080p/30fps

Front Camera:        5 Megapixels

f2.4 aperture

Fixed focus

Video: 1080p/30fps

Bluetooth:                Version 4.2 with A2DP, EDR Profile

GPS:                           GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou

Wi-Fi:                         802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Sensors:  Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, Ambient Light

Speaker: Yes, Waterproof

Battery: 3000mAh, Lithium Polymer

Charging Time:       <2 hours

Network:                 LTE : 800 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2300 / 2600 MHz

UMTS : 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz

GSM : 850 / 900 /1800 /1900 MHz