The Caanoo Information Thread

[quote]

General Information
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The Caanoo is GamePark Holdings' new console.
It is the successor to the GP2X Wiz, and some have described it as an 'upgrade' to that console. This is because it adds no more power (other than an increase in ram), and is mainly a change in form factor and screen size (3.5"). A G-Sensor and a Vibration motor have been added, and the D-Pad has been replaced with an analog joystick.
Pictures and specs were originally leaked to the forum in this thread (which itself sourced from gpain.com and a Korean blog).
The Caanoo was officially announced at E3 2010, where GPH had a developer booth.

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The full specs are:

• CPU - ARM9 533MHz + 3D GPU
  • No upgrade over the Wiz, here. The Caanoo should be able to overclock to 800MHz, but that can be tested when units start to ship.
• RAM - 128MB
  • Double the Wiz's RAM. Some developers have noted that this will help when porting games and applications to the Caanoo. Note: only 86mb is available to applications.
• OS - Custom Linux OS
  • Featuring a very nice boot time; faster than any other GPH console so far!
• Display - 3.5" LCD Touchscreen (320 * 240)
  • The same resolution as the Wiz. Good news for quick Wiz->Caanoo ports.
• External memory - SD card
  • No accessible NAND this time. GPH have said that the Wiz's 2GB NAND was not very stable and meant slower boot-up.
• Battery - 1,850mA
  • 'Not user-replaceable'
• Extras - Accelerometer (G sensor), vibration motor, microphone
  • Listed by GPH as 'Fun-Factors'. MAME4All already has built-in Gsensor support.
• Dimensions - 146 (w) × 70 (h) × 18.5 (d) mm
  • Similar to a Nintendo DS Lite in size.
• Weight - 136g

The Caanoo will play these formats:
Video - MPEG4, XVID, DIVX and AVI formats
Audio - OGG, WAV, MP3
Photo - JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG
Ebook - TXT
Bear in mind that these are the formats officially supported by the Caanoo's OS. The Caanoo is open-source, meaning anyone can write and run software on it. No doubt a number of other filetypes will be usable once the Caanoo is out in the open.

Useful Sites and Links
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You can order a Caanoo at one of these shops (all ship worldwide):
gp2x.de - Germany Based
play-asia.com - China Based
hardcore-gamer.net - Spain Based
gameseek.co.uk - UK Based
dingoo-digital-usa.com - USA Based
gp2xstore.com - USA Based
Each distributer offers a variety of packages, from the Base Unit through to the Console + Game Pack + Wifi dongle. The Caanoo started shipping to most of these retailers on August 18th.
It is worth mentioning the Wifi dongle now: GPH are pushing the Caanoo as a network-enabled console. It does not have Wifi or Bluetooth built in. However, GPH plan to make a Wifi dongle which will work with both the Wiz and the Caanoo. Some Korean commercial games will have online support, and a browser will most likely be ported for use on the Caanoo (GPH say they will not do this themselves). Discuss and suggest compatible Wifi sticks in this thread.

There are a few news sites which cover GPH info and game releases:
openXile - Users here are free to post news for the site; just follow the guidelines given and wait for approval.
NewsWeeZ
You can also post news to the gp32x front page, just make a thread here (and wait for approval).

GPH have two official Facebook pages where you can ask questions and watch videos:
GPH Facebook Page
Caanoo Facebook Page
The Facebook pages are read by GPH's Overseas Sales Manager, who is happy to answer any questions you have about the Caanoo. There is a simple discussion board there, too. Most of the current videos of the Caanoo can be found on the Facebook page, here.

There are other forum threads with useful Caanoo info and links:
Caanoo In The News

There are some reviews of the Caanoo, written by a number of sites/members:
openXile review by Nova
Play-Asia-Rulez review by flavor
gp32x review by WarmFluffyUK
NewzWeeZ review by Mr 2X (Part 2)


Here is some Caanoo media:
Video Reviews/Previews

Spoiler

EvilDragon's short overview:
.

Play-Asia-Rulez's first impressions:
.

GameseekTV's overview:
.

Official (GPH) Renders

Spoiler

 

[gruso]

I've been digging around for more pics, here are the few I found. Still waiting on some more angles (the edges, port layout, back cover etc).

 

[Nova]

I've been digging around for more pics, here are the few I found. Still waiting on some more angles (the edges, port layout, back cover etc).

Any specific photo requests? ED has his now so will probably be happy to provide them and I should have one here in the next couple of days if not.

 

[Nova]

Argh, for some reason I can't edit my post. So here goes.

The Caanoo Teaser site goes live tomorrow at 22.00 gmt.

 

[gruso]

I'd like to see some photos of the port layout, especially the location of the USB port.

 

[quote]

I'd like to see some photos of the port layout, especially the location of the USB port.

That can be seen here and here (12 min mark on the latter).

 

[gruso]

Oh cheers, I'll check them out later.

 

[forces]

Does anyone know, how will the wi-fi dongle look like, because i won't buy Caanoo/dongle if it'll be a huge thing pointing out of a console...

 

[crow_riot]

Does anyone know, how will the wi-fi dongle look like, because i won't buy Caanoo/dongle if it'll be a huge thing pointing out of a console...

the dongle will look like any other usb wifi dongle, looking out of the console. small versions of compatible dongles exist, so the smaller you buy the less it will look out. sad but true

 

[Nova]

Does anyone know, how will the wi-fi dongle look like, because i won't buy Caanoo/dongle if it'll be a huge thing pointing out of a console...

I'm not sure whether or not they're gonna manufacture their own. Ask them here, you're certain to get an answer.

 

[Mr 2X]

Video Reviews:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Lf2EROdSElQ (by Flavor - Play-Asia-Rulez )
(I know it's posted in the other thread)

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=CCAoRTncr5o (by EvilDragon)

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=ISnN267ihjs (by GameseekTV)

 

[MWeston]

I'm not sure whether or not they're gonna manufacture their own.

My opinion would be that they are not going to make their own. The USB host on the big connector is USB 1.1 and that was what they were going to use in the past based on those renders shown ages ago.

They didn't like the performance of that USB obviously because they added a dedicated 2.0 high speed chip into the Caanoo (as I discovered from ED's disassembly pictures). They put a standard host port on the Caanoo so that they can plug any off the shelf dongle in there and it would be pointless to go through the development/certification effort to make their own. At best, they may re-brand an existing dongle with the GPH name.

 

[Nova]

Just to add, people in the UK can buy a Caanoo from Gameseek.co.uk.

 

[quote]

Thanks guys, added the youtube vids and the link.

 

[jutleys]

yea i just ordered mine today from gameseeker uk hell if it plays doom and quake i want it forget what anyone else says will pass the time untill i get my pandora in batch2 inline 90-120 que position.

 

[quote]

Gameseek.co.uk.

These guys say that it's got '2 gigabyte flash memory' but I'm pretty sure they're wrong. Tony says small NAND.

 

[Nova]

There's no user-accessible NAND at all. Those guys definitely have it wrong.

 

[quote]

Yep, I sent them an email. They really should double-check specs before they sell pre-orders to trusting customers. Not very professional at all, I think I'll stick to ED .

Edit: Their video sucks, too .

 

[Exophase]

"Overclockable to 900MHz" is also a pretty crazy thing to put down.. not to mention advertising all those emulators that haven't yet been ported :/

 

[jutleys]

Gameseek.co.uk.

These guys say that it's got '2 gigabyte flash memory' but I'm pretty sure they're wrong. Tony says small NAND.

they have now changed the details of the specs and removed the 2gb now