Hisense A4 Series Hisense - 32" Class A4 Series LED Full HD 1080P Review

The Hisense A4 is the best small TV for people who love Google TV. It packs a fantastic smart platform into a compact 32-inch 1080p body, making it perfect for bedrooms and small spaces. Picture and gaming performance are just average, but at around $220, you're really paying for the seamless software experience. Get it for a secondary room, skip it for your main setup.

Let's be real, most of us aren't looking for a massive 85-inch centerpiece TV. Sometimes you just need a solid, no-fuss screen for a bedroom, office, or guest room. That's exactly where the 32-inch Hisense A4 comes in. It's a 1080p LED TV that's built around Google TV, which is arguably the best smart TV platform out there right now. It's not trying to win any picture quality awards, but it's aiming to be the easiest, most connected small TV you can buy for around two hundred bucks.

This TV is for someone who wants a smart TV experience first and a television second. If your main goal is to easily stream Netflix, YouTube, and free live channels without fussing with dongles or boxes, this is your guy. The Google TV interface is slick, it has Chromecast built right in, and it responds to your voice. It's perfect for spaces where a giant screen would be overkill, like a kitchen, a dorm room, or even the cab of a semi-truck, as one buyer pointed out.

What makes it interesting is how it leans hard into its strengths. Our data shows it scores in the 97th percentile for smart features among all TVs. That's huge. It means the software experience is better than almost anything else out there, regardless of price. But it's a trade-off. That focus on brains comes at the expense of brawn, with picture quality and gaming specs landing in the lower half of the pack. This TV knows exactly what it is.

On paper, the performance specs tell a clear story. You're getting a 1080p, 60Hz panel with a Motion Rate 120 feature (which is software processing, not a true high refresh rate). For watching sitcoms, news, and standard streaming content, it's perfectly fine. The picture is decently sharp for a 32-inch screen, and the colors are okay. But don't expect any HDR magic or deep blacks. Our percentile rankings put its picture quality in the 45th percentile and HDR capability in the 32nd. In plain English, it's a very average picture by today's standards.

For gaming, it's a similar story. It has a Game Mode to reduce input lag, which is great, but it's still a 60Hz panel with HDMI 1.4 ports. That means you're capped at 1080p 60Hz, with no support for higher frame rates or variable refresh rate (VRR). If you're a casual gamer playing older console titles or indie games, it'll work. But if you have a PS5 or Xbox Series X and want to experience 120fps gaming, this isn't the screen for you. The gaming score sits in the 37th percentile, which confirms it's strictly for very light, casual play.

The value proposition here is straightforward: you're paying for the smart platform, not the panel. At its current street price of around $221, you're getting a fully-loaded Google TV experience in a compact box. Compared to shelling out for a separate streaming stick or box for a 'dumb' TV, this starts to make a lot of sense.

It undercuts similar small smart TVs from brands like TCL or Insignia, often by a few bucks, while offering a more polished and integrated software experience. Just know that every dollar saved is a dollar not spent on better picture technology. You're trading peak image quality for convenience and software smarts.

The most direct competitor is probably the 32-inch TCL 3-Series with Roku TV. It's a similar price and also 1080p. The trade-off is platform: Roku is simpler and has more apps, but Google TV is better at recommending content and integrating live TV. The Hisense also has a slight edge in connectivity with Bluetooth 5.0.

If you step up to a 32-inch 4K TV, like the Samsung CU7000, you're paying significantly more ($300+) for a resolution you likely won't benefit from on a screen this size, but you do get a brighter panel and HDR support. For a bedroom TV, that's probably overkill.

The real question is whether to buy this or just get a cheaper 'dumb' TV and add your own streaming device. A basic 32-inch non-smart TV plus a Chromecast with Google TV would cost roughly the same. The Hisense wins on integration and a cleaner setup (one remote, one power cable), but the separate device route gives you more upgrade flexibility later.

Skip this TV if you're a serious movie buff or gamer. The 1080p resolution, lack of meaningful HDR, and mediocre audio (36th percentile) won't do justice to a 4K Blu-ray or a cinematic show. Gamers craving high refresh rates or VRR should also look away—the 60Hz cap is a hard limit.

Instead, consider a larger 4K TV from TCL's Q-Series or Hisense's own U6/U7 lines if you want better picture quality on a budget. If you absolutely need a 32-inch screen but want better gaming, your options are limited, but looking for a monitor with a higher refresh rate might be a better fit, though you'd lose the smart TV convenience.

For a secondary TV in a bedroom, kitchen, office, or guest room, the Hisense A4 is an easy recommendation. The Google TV software is so good it makes using the TV a pleasure, and the price is right. If your main concerns are ease of use, access to streaming apps, and free live TV, and you're okay with a perfectly average picture, buy it.

However, if this is going to be your main living room TV, or if you're a gamer who wants more than 60fps, look elsewhere. The picture quality and gaming specs are its clear limitations. In that case, saving up for a larger 4K TV with better motion handling and HDMI 2.1 would be a much better investment for your primary viewing spot.