Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: a slim, sleek and smart TV

This Hisense 32A5600FTUK review is the right place to be if you are on the lookout for an affordable 32-inch smart TV for a bedroom, home office, small living room or kitchen.

Having become a big name in TV, Hisense offers sets packed with smart features for bargain prices. Featuring in T3’s guide to the best 32 inch TVs, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK is a perfect example of what the brand does best. It may not be one the absolute best TVs you can buy, but not everyone wants or needs a huge 65-inch high-end 4K set. 

Here, I’ll take you through everything you need to know about the Hisense 32A5600FTUK from its sound and picture quality to features, design, and ultimately whether you should consider buying one.

Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: price and features

When the Hisense 32A5600FTUK launched it was priced from £189 in the UK and AUD$377.35 in Australia. Take a look at the widgets on this page for the most recent pricing – but, as stock seems to have largely been sold out, the price is now higher, so I'd suggest looking over T3's list of best 32-inch TVs to find an even better bargain. 

Using Hisense’s VIDAA U smart TV platform, this HD Ready set gives you on-demand entertainment from apps like Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube. It also has Freeview Play so you can catch up on the latest TV from the likes of BBC iPlayer, All 4 and the ITV Hub. To boost the picture quality, Hisense has included MasterPro Engine and Natural Colour Enhancer, while DBX technologies and Dolby Audio aim to improve the sound, claiming to give you an experience more similar to a soundbar.

To connect your own streaming or gaming devices to it, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK TV has two HDMI 1.4 ports, though it’s worth noting that neither is eARC compatible so you won’t be able to hook up a separate soundbar. It also has two USB Ports, two RF terrestrial inputs, a digital optical port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an ethernet port. 

Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: picture quality

A 32 inch TV with an HD DLED panel, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. This is a TV that keeps things relatively simple to save on the cost. The standard 60Hz refresh rate means it won’t be a great choice to use for gaming. You won’t find HDR support here either, but it does have Master Pro processing which enhances HD TV to deliver richer colours, vivid contrast and smoother motion. It also features Natural Colour Enhancer to boost colour reproduction, making them look more realistic. The standard 8bit panel depth means that this TV does sometimes suffer from banding which means that the gradual change between colours on the screen isn’t always completely smooth. 

To test out the TV, I watched lots of different types of content, like movies, sports and TV shows. Despite not having a wide colour gamut or local dimming, the screen did deliver vivid, accurate colours and was bright enough, with good enough contrast, to produce a well-balanced image no matter the type of content. On the flip side, although blacks were dark, they were sometimes a little greyed out, this was especially noticeable at night.

Being limited to HD resolution as opposed to Full HD, you can’t expect the picture quality to be completely without fault, it doesn't have outstanding clarity and details weren't always as precise as you’d find elsewhere. Having said that though, the action looked smooth even in fast-paced content like sports. For this price, the picture quality was surprisingly sharp and vibrant overall. 

There are a few picture modes to choose from including Standard, Dynamic, Cinema Day and Cinema Night. It took a bit of navigating to get to this part of the TV's settings so it's not something I would want to change all the time. Because of that, I tended to stick to one or two of them, I found that using the Standard or Dynamic mode was best for most genres of TV and film. 

The Hisense 32A5600FTUK has a viewing angle of 178 degrees, so most of the time you get about the same experience from anywhere in the room. However, the screen does have a glossy finish which meant I did sometimes notice a problem with annoying reflections at times of day when the sun was shining in. 

Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: sound quality

Two 6W speakers are built into the TV, it has Dolby Audio and DBX technologies to enhance it, giving you a more soundbar-like experience. In use, I found the speakers didn’t quite mimic the feeling of surround sound like you’d get from an additional soundbar, yet they did give you quite a powerful, rich sound that was certainly enough to fill a bedroom or office. 

I wouldn’t choose to use it for music over a dedicated speaker because the audio lacks the depth you’d get from a separate device. For TV shows and movies, it will be good enough for most. I found I rarely needed to put the sound up higher than 50% so the Hisense 32A5600FTUK certainly had plenty of volume capabilities as well. 

Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: design and usability

Lightweight and sleek, are the best two words to describe the design of the Hisense 32A5600FTUK. It weighs only 3.9kg with the stand and measures 730 x 478 x 193 mm - setting it up is easily a one-person job. It’s slim and compact so is sure to fit just about anywhere. You’ll just need to screw in the two feet using the four included screws and away you go. It’s also VESA wall mount compatible. 

Once set up, the TV looks smart with slim black bezels, three of which are integrated into the screen. They’re only interrupted by the silver Hisense logo on the bottom edge. On the back, the TV has a matte black plastic casing. The connections are tucked neatly into a nook in the middle. You’ll have to be careful moving it around as the screen easily picks up fingerprint marks. 

The included remote is simple and easy to use, although at times I did find that the buttons were packed in a little too close together. The IR sensor works from the majority of angles, wherever you are in the room. Granted, it doesn’t feel particularly premium because of the hollow plastic design, but it does everything you'll need and it does it well. There are six buttons that take you directly to popular streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Rakuten TV, Freeview Play. The Media button shows you the other streaming options you have available as well. 

A Home button is located towards the middle of the remote, it takes you to the main VIDAA U interface, giving you a full list of viewing options including your apps and inputs. Here you can also get quick weather updates and adjust the TV’s settings. The interface is laid out intuitively, plus the main apps you’ll want to use are pre-installed, like the most used TV catch up and streaming services. On the app store, you can download more streaming, gaming, news and music apps as well as rent movies and watch sports too. Using AnyView Cast, you can also mirror your phone’s screen to the TV to stream video or display your own content. Unlike other smart TVs, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK isn't compatible with a smart assistant. 

Hisense 32A5600FTUK review: verdict

In comparison to other TVs of this size and price, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK doesn’t compromise too much on picture quality. To keep the cost down, Hisense kept the TV's resolution low. Despite that, it manages to deliver strong, bright colours and comfortably picks up details in the image. It’ll be suitable for any type of content from TV dramas to Hollywood blockbusters. Similarly, you won’t get booming surround sound from the two 6W speakers, but you will get audio that will easily fill the room. 

Overall, the Hisense 32A5600FTUK is the perfect TV for a bedroom, office or small living room. You won’t get much better at this price, it’s fantastic value for money. 

Thanks to Box.co.uk for supplying our review unit. You can see Box's latest prices for the Hisense 32A5600FTUK here.

Also consider

With the Hisense now harder to obtain here are two sensible alternatives: first up, the TCL 32ES568, which compromises slightly more on sound and picture quality yet manages to pack in even more sophisticated smart features through Android TV. 

Second in line, with a slightly bigger panel and better resolution, is the Hisense A7500F (43A7500F). It's a great cheap 4K TV with a 43-inch screen with all the benefits of of the VIDAA system.