Really Considering Buying A Dingoo A320

[rollingharoo]

As a Wiz and GP2X F100/200 owner, first let me say that these are great handhelds. However, what I really look for in a handheld is both portability and replacement parts, something that GPH handhelds lack in. The GP2X F100/200 handhelds are built pretty solid, but they're too big for the pockets. And while the Wiz is just awesome, but once screen rot kicks in, or when that battery loses its charge, that's where its long-term usage goes down the drain, as replacement parts are not only scarce, but expensive. For the Dingoo though, it has both portability and cheap, easily accesible(eBay!) replacement parts. I definitely plan to sell my F200 model and my Wiz with accessories and will most likely stick with my F100, but in case I decide to get a Dingoo A320...

A lot of people have complained about receiving faulty Dingoos in the mail, usually a lot of issues about the Dingoo's shoulder buttons not working. How often does that occur for Dingoo owners? Any other potential defects I should worry about?



Many people have complained about destroying the Dingoo's screen by a mere 3-foot drop. How fragile is the screen, and would this still occur if a Dingoo skin is on?



Where's a good place to get an A320 at? I found a nice post on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190406078186&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123 It's a Dingoo A320 bundle with everything I'll ever need, from Dingux to added protection via cases. Any opinions on bundled ads like these?



How long does the battery last on average use?



Will I be able to play the A320 while charging it (via wall charger/portable battery pack) at the same time?



How is the TV-out quality? My Wiz has very choppy quality when playing movies and photos, but seems to look okay for most emulators and games.

 

[kayuz]

I can tell you one thing?
does not take a dingoo, it are made ​​really bad.
just pressed a screen that breaks...
or a fall on the floor to say goodbye to your dear dingoo
without the blessed dingux can not do anything,
and the mini sd to load dingux not be found easely...
my advice is to take a CAANOO, excellent build quality, larger screen then the dingoo, and price is not high
,plus there are good emulators and even great exclusive games for the system.

 

[MonkeyChops]

what about the a330, better build quality?

 

[rollingharoo]

what about the a330, better build quality?

Here's a review of the A330 that best describes my opinion towards the Dingoo's latest model: http://gbatemp.net/t230291-dingoo-a330-review#h

 

[LTStone]

I HAVE to have one of each..
I have 3 Wiz's and over a period of almost a year I have had no problems with any of them except a faulty battery in one.

I am on my 3rd Dingoo and the shoulder buttons always die so I soldered on some mouse buttons instead. Also there is a coil of some sort that is on the center of the circuit board that gets stuck to the glue side of the battery, if you drop the dingoo that coil usually breaks and bam ,dead dingoo.

I like the Dingoo much better for movies and music, tons of audio options, and full EQ. It plays more video formats and usually better quality. Tv-out is not as sharp as the Wiz tv-out but it works fine for every emulator. The replacement parts dont mean much because the actual face buttons and dpad are good and I've never broke a screen or killed a battery. Speaking of battery life the Dingoo is great, i have gotten almost 10 hours for continuous video on a charge. Gaming less, audio more.

The Wiz I like for ps1 games and Steet fighter alpha 3 and I LOVE the screen.

Everything else (pdf, ebook, images apps and emulators) are about equal for me.

 

[rollingharoo]

You know what? Maybe I'll just save up for a Pandora.

 

[MonkeyChops]

caanoo is going pretty cheap now, $107. I'm thinking it's the way to go, I understand they are pretty solid.

 

[rollingharoo]

caanoo is going pretty cheap now, $107. I'm thinking it's the way to go, I understand they are pretty solid.

$107 now eh? Where's this at?

 

[LTStone]

caanoo is going pretty cheap now, $107. I'm thinking it's the way to go, I understand they are pretty solid.

$107 now eh? Where's this at?

But then he is in the same spot as before, choppy video, battery , same stuff as Wiz except thats now its less portable than the wiz. The Caanoo is nice though (except for that dang analog pad..)

 

[MonkeyChops]

http://www.exportprive.com/gp2x-caanoo-game-system-white-p-13267.html

caanoo has choppy video? thought it did a good job at video :huh:

 

[LTStone]

http://www.exportprive.com/gp2x-caanoo-game-system-white-p-13267.html

caanoo has choppy video? thought it did a good job at video :huh:

It depends on the video BUT I find that if the video is choppy on the Wiz it will also be choppy on the Cannoo as well. They share the same guts pretty much.

 

[rollingharoo]

http://www.exportprive.com/gp2x-caanoo-game-system-white-p-13267.html

caanoo has choppy video? thought it did a good job at video :huh:

It depends on the video BUT I find that if the video is choppy on the Wiz it will also be choppy on the Cannoo as well. They share the same guts pretty much.

My Wiz has pretty choppy video out quality. Especially when playing videos on a big screen TV, I nearly cried the first time I plugged that in(kidding). I've heard that video quality is better on a Dingoo A320, but that was only said for the console itself, not for its TV out capabilities. How's its A/V out capabilities?

Also, is it possible to play the A320 while charging it at the same time? I have an external battery pack that I'd like to use it on when traveling.

 

[kayuz]

the caanoo have a wonderful video playing with Mplayer http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/caanoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,114,525

 

[slaanesh]

I've got both a Dingoo A320 and a Wiz.
The A320 has amazing battery life and retention. Don't play it for 3 months and get back to it and it still powers on! Fantastic!
The build quality of the unit I have is average but it's strong. I bought mine when they first came out and everything is still fully functional and works well.

The Wiz has better build quality and a brighter screen. The quality of video playback is good - however the A320 is just as good if not better, especially handling larger DivX.

The Wiz as least has everything already done for you. The A320 should have Dingux installed though there are loads of A320 native games which are of a very high quality.

Honestly it would be a tough choice to name which is "better" and probably just comes down to personal nuances.

Anyway, I'm dusting off my developers kit again and getting ready to start writing some software again - starting with the A320.

 

[mamemaniac]

Anyway, I'm dusting off my developers kit again and getting ready to start writing some software again - starting with the A320.

Awesome news Slaanesh!

I really hope you will update FBA for the Dingux with a better compatibility for all those Irem (Gunforce 2/Geostorm is now supported in the latest official build), Taito, Sega, PGM, Raizing and Banpresto games.

 

[LTStone]

Anyway, I'm dusting off my developers kit again and getting ready to start writing some software again - starting with the A320.

Awesome news Slaanesh!

I really hope you will update FBA for the Dingux with a better compatibility for all those Irem (Gunforce 2/Geostorm is now supported in the latest official build), Taito, Sega, PGM, Raizing and Banpresto games.

Button mapping would be nice in fba

 

[Squarefish]

Don't forget the A380 has just been released!

I'm buying myself a A380 for christmas which has widescreen, wifi gamepad support (you can get the gamepads in a bundle very cheap) more reliable TV-Out and is faster than the A320.

You have to order from china apart from a few very small retailers, but it looks very good indeed, and not much more expensive than the A320!

http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2011/10/dingoo-a380-review.html

 

[Surkow]

Don't forget the A380 has just been released!

I'm buying myself a A380 for christmas which has widescreen, wifi gamepad support (you can get the gamepads in a bundle very cheap) more reliable TV-Out and is faster than the A320.

You have to order from china apart from a few very small retailers, but it looks very good indeed, and not much more expensive than the A320!

http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2011/10/dingoo-a380-review.html

Before you buy, consider reading this thread.

 

[Squarefish]

Well, to be fair dingoo digital aren't doing anything 100% wrong against anyone...

You could insist that they are "making a buck" from the development scene (which is not them - they only produced the hardware and SDKs) by supplying emulators and software pre-installed. I admit, as being careful goes they could have supplied the A380 clean, and people would have to check out the "development scene" and not bypass a community to be having fun with their new toy,

But you could go a bit softer on them and realise these programs are freely avaialable on the internet and have no face value! Particuarly as far as the roms the development community were creating emulators for were games produced by companies and once had face value!

It's quite natural for chinese companies to supply "free gifts" with their hardware. I bought an arcade style fight stick from Hong Kong once and it came with copied disks of 10,000 MAME compatible roms to play on it.

So having the work that certain individuals from the development scene had ported (not created of course) pre-installed on the hardware is probably unfair to some, but you have to regard this as a free gift add on and not be overly miffed. In their principal, people are going to end up downloading the "development work" - emulators and roms and put them on anyway.

The principal is at least for dingoo digital to make the console a success. I can't say I'll give up buying an A380, or worry about being part of development. I mean to support the scene regardless, the console makers are merely a "god-father" of the technology. This is their way of looking at it, as they produce the hardware and you should look at it that way too.

Because without them you'd have nothing to begin with!

 

[Kamillus]

@Squarefish

I don't think that the scene is upset about having their soft on hardware out-of-the-box, their just worrying that Dingoo Digital will not comply to the GPL license which the software were released on.