Siswoo R8 Monster: an overlooked high-end Chinese device?


siswoo r8 monster

Chinese brand Siswoo have made some very interesting and sensible steps to create a brand that customers can actually rely on, but while we look at the brand and their latest phones we could be overlooking one of the best phones they have on sale already.

Someone at Siswoo quite obviously likes cars and bikes. Their range of phones features the i7 Cooper (i7 being a Hyundai and Cooper mini) but at the top of the heap is the Siswoo R8 Monster. For those of you who don’t follow cars and bikes the R8 is a supercar by Audi with a Lamborghini engine in , and the Monster is an amazing street bike from Ducati.

These names bring up images or roaring engines, power, speed and luxury, and looking over the specifications sheet of the Siswoo R8 Monster we can see where they are coming from.

Shopping around you can pick up an R8 Monster for about $290 online, or if you are in Spain you can head to a Jazztel store and buy one in person. Compared to other Chinese phones this might sound a little high, but there is no area where the hardware has a weak point.

siswoo r8 monster

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The display is a 5.5-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 panel. Above the laminated screen is a 5 mega-pixel camera, while the rear camera is a 13 mega-pixel Sony unit with dual LED flash.

Dimensions are 152 x 77.7 x 8.9mm which is just a few mm longer and wider than the Meizu MX4 which the Siswoo shares its octacore Mediatek MT6595 chipset and 3GB RAM with. Siswoo have opted for the MT6595M running at 2.0Ghz with PowerVR Rogue G6200 GPU. This processing package is good for Antutu scores of around 47,000 points according to Siswoo.

LTE is supported too (frequencies 800/1800/2600mhz) as are GSM, WCDMA, Bluetooth, and dual-band 2.4-5ghz WIFI, and dual SIM support.

siswoo r8 monster

Compared to some current Chinese phones the Siswoo R8 Monster doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner but it does make up for that with HIFI audio, NFC, IR sensor for taking remote control of your home and a large 3350mAh battery with fast charge technology (fully charged in just 1.5hours).

We have reached out to Siswoo to get hold of the R8 Monster for review. In the meantime you can get more details of the phone over on the official Siswoo product page.

[ Siswoo ]
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50 Comments

  1. mf1gt3r
    June 29, 2015

    Wish it was lollipop. Anyway lets see a review soon.

    • Kamui
      June 29, 2015

      Siswoo promised Lollipop for this month. Let’s see

      • Gbriel
        March 27, 2016

        Their support is something to be laughed at. I already sent two messages
        and none got replied to. Also tried to sub to their forum to post
        there, no way to do that as well. The phone sucks bad even after the
        recall.

    • June 29, 2015

      Yup would be nice, but the MT6595 is a 32bit chip so no need really.

  2. nick
    June 29, 2015

    Isn’t that powervr gpu weaker then mali t760?

  3. CiroD
    June 29, 2015

    On a review by well known Italian blog, it was reported to have “unstable software, bad light sensor, buggy proximity sensor, crackly rear speaker and bad still and video camera”

    • Mitu
      June 30, 2015

      I wonder how old that review is. Siswoo had a recall for the R8 Monster because of the yellow flash with photos, poor Wi-Fi and some issues with the software. As already said by Kamui Android Lollipop is scheduled for next month.

      Basically this phone is an Zopo ZP999 Lion heart which is still on Android 4.2 and with a higher price tag than the Siswoo. On paper the R8 has some great specs but the only reason you might want to choose this brand is for support from Europe (Spain and Germany)

    • Tajwar
      October 21, 2015

      Andrea Galeazzi il mito

  4. Mesterio
    June 29, 2015

    6595 for $290? It better lay golden eggs too!

    • Muhammad Yasir
      June 29, 2015

      here … take my upvote

      • Mesterio
        June 29, 2015

        Thanks M.Y

      • Tajwar
        October 21, 2015

        I want one too ☺

        • Muhammad Yasir
          October 22, 2015

          cant say no to Tajwar 🙂

          • Tajwar
            October 22, 2015

            Here take mine too. Oh btw you speak Urdu?

            • Muhammad Yasir
              October 22, 2015

              yep 🙂

              u?

            • Tajwar
              October 22, 2015

              Yup

    • Stef
      June 29, 2015

      To this day it is the fastest Mediatek CPU. But very bad gpu , no 4G and probably worse battery.

      • Mesterio
        June 29, 2015

        I am fully aware, but would you pay $ 290 for it?

        • Stef
          June 29, 2015

          No, better options out there … ‘m just saying that MT6595 is not sth to be laughed at despite its obvious flaws…

      • Mitu
        June 30, 2015

        As in the article the R8 Monster has 4G as Siswoo give the following specs:
        4G LTE: (800MHz, 1800MHz, 2600MHz)
        4G TDD LTE: (1900MHz, 2300MHz, 2600MHz)

        • Stef
          June 30, 2015

          Hmm, maybe I had 6592 in mind … thanks for clearing that up.

    • balcobomber25
      June 30, 2015

      The 6595 is still one of the best chips MTK makes as long as your not a gamer. I would pay $290 for a phone with 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, a good camera and hifi audio especially one that looks as good as this.

      • Mesterio
        June 30, 2015

        It does look breathtaking but why not opt for the MX4 then? Wouldn’t it be cheaper?

        • balcobomber25
          June 30, 2015

          That is an option if you like Flyme (which I do), but not everyone does.

  5. mf1gt3r
    June 29, 2015

    Wish it was lollipop. Anyway lets see a review soon.

    • Kamui
      June 29, 2015

      Siswoo promised Lollipop for this month. Let’s see

    • Andi Sykes
      June 29, 2015

      Yup would be nice, but the MT6595 is a 32bit chip so no need really.

    • Guest
      March 27, 2016

      Their support is something to be laughed at. I already sent two messages
      and none got replied to. Also tried to sub to their forum to post
      there, no way to do that as well. The phone sucks bad even after the
      recall.

  6. Guest
    June 29, 2015

    Isn’t that powervr gpu weaker then mali t760?

  7. CiroD
    June 29, 2015

    On a review by well known Italian blog, it was reported to have “unstable software, bad light sensor, buggy proximity sensor, crackly rear speaker and bad still and video camera”

    • Guest
      June 30, 2015

      I wonder how old that review is. Siswoo had a recall for the R8 Monster because of the yellow flash with photos, poor Wi-Fi and some issues with the software. As already said by Kamui Android Lollipop is scheduled for next month.

      Basically this phone is an Zopo ZP999 Lion heart which is still on Android 4.2 and with a higher price tag than the Siswoo. On paper the R8 has some great specs but the only reason you might want to choose this brand is for support from Europe (Spain and Germany)

    • Tajwar
      October 21, 2015

      Andrea Galeazzi il mito

  8. Mesterio
    June 29, 2015

    6595 for $290? It better lay golden eggs too!

    • Guest
      June 29, 2015

      here … take my upvote

    • Mesterio
      June 29, 2015

      Thanks M.Y

    • Stef
      June 29, 2015

      To this day it is the fastest Mediatek CPU. But very bad gpu , no 4G and probably worse battery.

    • Mesterio
      June 29, 2015

      I am fully aware, but would you pay $ 290 for it?

    • Stef
      June 30, 2015

      No, better options out there … ‘m just saying that MT6595 is not sth to be laughed at despite its obvious flaws…

    • Guest
      June 30, 2015

      As in the article the R8 Monster has 4G as Siswoo give the following specs:
      4G LTE: (800MHz, 1800MHz, 2600MHz)
      4G TDD LTE: (1900MHz, 2300MHz, 2600MHz)

    • Stef
      June 30, 2015

      Hmm, maybe I had 6592 in mind … thanks for clearing that up.

    • balcobomber25
      June 30, 2015

      The 6595 is still one of the best chips MTK makes as long as your not a gamer. I would pay $290 for a phone with 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, a good camera and hifi audio especially one that looks as good as this.

    • Mesterio
      June 30, 2015

      It does look breathtaking but why not opt for the MX4 then? Wouldn’t it be cheaper?

    • balcobomber25
      June 30, 2015

      That is an option if you like Flyme (which I do), but not everyone does.

    • Tajwar
      October 21, 2015

      I want one too ☺

    • Guest
      October 22, 2015

      cant say no to Tajwar 🙂

    • Tajwar
      October 22, 2015

      Here take mine too. Oh btw you speak Urdu?

    • Guest
      October 22, 2015

      yep 🙂

      u?

    • Tajwar
      October 22, 2015

      Yup

  9. balcobomber25
    June 30, 2015

    They need to launch the Darkmoon!

  10. balcobomber25
    June 30, 2015

    They need to launch the Darkmoon!