The New Dingoo A320 Topic

[Atomic Man]

some links:

www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20217 - buy it at dealextreme (right now its backordered)
www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.20217 - forum at DX
a320.freeforums.org - some forum where apparently a Dingoo rep is posting, it has anonymous access blocked and i didnt bother registering.
dingoo-digital.com - unofficial english site with little content so far
www.dingoo-scene.blogspot.com - blog about the A320 with various info

---

i got my a320 yesterday and have been playing with it a little before writing up this short 'review'. it came preloaded with a bunch of games made by Dingoo themselves, mostly puzzle games made for the GBA emulator. they are all pretty simple with the exception of '7 Days' which i only played for a few minutes, the one with Dora the Explorer grabbing gold coins out of some hellpit underneath egypt made me laugh though. there was also the usual boring assortment of stolen music/pictures and movie previews preloaded.

good stuff:

the UI looks good and you can set your own backgrounds.

very nice case. the back is matte white and the front has a clear glossy layer over gloss white. my unit came with a clear plastic protector that covers the entire top of the unit minus the buttons, i left it on.

the buttons are nice and responsive in my opinion. the L and R buttons are harder to press and make a clicky sound, the other buttons are silent.

tv out

excellent battery life. im recharging it for the first time right now after playing with it for many hours (it arrived with 2/3 bars on the battery and i didnt bother charging it).

you can listen to music/radio while browsing the menu, looking at pictures, or reading an ebook.

bad stuff:

the power slider on the right is awkward to press and is used to access the menu in the emulators, although start+select can also be used.

most of the emulators suck. i was expecting this though.

the sound quality in the music player is not what im used too. i bought a JXD 301 a bit over a year ago and it has excellent sound quality and a very nice 'BBE' sound enhancing option. i put the a320 and the 301 next to each other and started them playing the same song, then plugged my headphones into one and then into the other. even with BBE off the difference in quality is noticeable, the a320 doesnt sound as clear as my 301. i think this is a problem with poor software. also, all of the preset EQ options cause horrible distortion.

BIG problem: the Y and B buttons wont work at the same time, with B taking priority over Y (as long as B is held Y wont do anything). this doesnt happen with any other button combination, i tried them all, so any game that you need to push both Y and B at the same time you will need to change the keys. this happens in all the emulators and even in the 3D games, but interestingly it doesnt occur in the music player (you can use Y to change the repeat setting even with B held). i hope this is 'just' a bug in the firmware.

another BIG problem: the viewing angle of the LCD is poor. i noticed this right away, the screen gets dark when viewed from the right side, and with my tendency to hold handhelds about 6 inches from my face this means the image in my right eye was darker than my left, which is really annoying. im not sure why but i dont notice it anymore, maybe im subconciously holding the a320 tilted a little to the right... this might be a problem with only some units, i think mine is an older one (it came in a white box, new ones come in black). anyone else with a dingoo please let me know how the screen looks to you.

---

i really hope these problems can be worked out, Dingoo seems like a great company trying to reach out to its customers and the A320 is a great product with a few flaws that can hopefully be fixed.

if anyone has any questions about the A320 i can probably answer them, and if anyone knows how to get the SDK working please let me know

 

[absolofdoom]

I managed to order one before it went on backorder, so I'll be getting it sometime next week. I can't wait. The main selling point for me was that it's pretty small and plays gba games. Playing gba on the psp works great, but the controls just don't feel right to me, and the psp is huge.

 

[carlgeorge]

I ordered one last week. Should arrive tomorrow.

I've bought it as a stop-gap until either my Pandora or Wiz finally show up.

Looks like a good little machine -- especially considering the price.

 

[MatthewCallis]

The SDK is at soft3d.org, http://www.soft3d.org/download.asp , but you have to register which isn't hard. Be forewarned, it is difficult to get up and going, and I still cannot get anything to work from inside VS2005, but it does compile and work on Windows, cannot get anything to run on the A320.

 

[Firefox]

I got mine this weekend and I'm *very* pleased with it!

Build quality's excellent, the controls are surprisingly nice to use, the screen's bright and sharp, and the built-in software is actually very well done.

The AV-out feature (and having the cable for it included in the pack) adds a whole extra dimension, too. It's so cool to be able to plug straight into the front of the TV and start playing games on it!

I hope they manufacture these for a good long while and that it isn't just a one-batch wonder like the JXD-301.

 

[quartercast]

BIG problem: the Y and B buttons wont work at the same time

So THAT's why I couldn't do a special attack in TMNT IV! And yes.. mine is a white box unit too, with the same viewing angle problem

 

[A600]

The SDK is at soft3d.org, http://www.soft3d.org/download.asp , but you have to register which isn't hard. Be forewarned, it is difficult to get up and going, and I still cannot get anything to work from inside VS2005, but it does compile and work on Windows, cannot get anything to run on the A320.

Unpack 20091214224673499.rar to c:, create the folder c:\s2dsdk and unpack there the "inc" and "lib" subfolders from 200811281249773499.rar. Run c:\cygwin\cygwin.reg and edit cygwin.bat with the following:

CODE

SET MIPSLIB=c:/cygwin/mipseltools/lib
SET MIPSTOOLS=c:/cygwin/mipseltools/include
SET S2DINC=c:/s2dsdk/inc
SET S2DLIB=c:/s2dsdk/lib
PATH=c:\cygwin\mipseltools\bin;c:\cygwin\bin;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;


Open a DOS window and run cygwin.bat. Now you can compile the examples with build.bat

 

[MatthewCallis]

Thanks A600! But this was already set up with the exception that "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND" is "C:\WINDOWS\system32" or "cmd" doesn't work. This is the error I keep getting from the console:

 

[A600]

Thanks A600! But this was already set up with the exception that "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND" is "C:\WINDOWS\system32" or "cmd" doesn't work.

That's an old habit from my W98 days and is the folder where I store all my .bat and little apps.

QUOTE
This is the error I keep getting from the console:


Why do you compile it with rls.bat? In that case, edit rls.bat and replace

CODE
PATH c:\cygwin\bin;c:\cygwin\mipseltools\bin


with

CODE
SET MIPSLIB=c:/cygwin/mipseltools/lib
SET MIPSTOOLS=c:/cygwin/mipseltools/include
SET S2DINC=c:/s2dsdk/inc
SET S2DLIB=c:/s2dsdk/lib
PATH=c:\cygwin\mipseltools\bin;c:\cygwin\bin;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32;

 

[MatthewCallis]

When I replace that line I get the same error from cc1 looking for the folder on Daniel's cygdrive, whoever and where ever that is.

I am on Windows XP Home on a Vaio laptop. I freshly download and extract to the folders after deleting it all first each time I start over to make sure I am not forgetting something, but I keep making the same error somewhere or the mipseltools need to be rebuilt or something.

Is there something special I need to do to Windows to get this working? I only use this laptop for old hardware that doesn't work with my Macbook or for older software can't be built through XCode.

 

[Auritribe]

BIG problem: the Y and B buttons wont work at the same time, with B taking priority over Y (as long as B is held Y wont do anything). this doesnt happen with any other button combination, i tried them all, so any game that you need to push both Y and B at the same time you will need to change the keys. this happens in all the emulators and even in the 3D games, but interestingly it doesnt occur in the music player (you can use Y to change the repeat setting even with B held). i hope this is 'just' a bug in the firmware.

Just thought I'd drop in with this little tidbit:

Dear Auritribe,

Hope you are having a good day there!

Well, our software developing has noticed this isue, will solve this problem soon. Maybe we will put a up-grade software on our website, pls references to our website,tks.

By the way, thank you for translated your letter to Chinese. However, I can understand your words and the transalting is not correct . Next time no need to do that la.

B/R
Sofia
sofia@dingoo888.com

Edit: may as well add the question sent too... the answer would be a bit vague without:

Hi Sofia,

I'd like to know, there have been reports that the Y and B buttons on the A320 can not press together. Y will not press if B is pressed at the same time. In games like Mario this is a problem because Mario cannot hold a turtle shell while jumping.

I would like to know if this is a hardware issue, or if it is a firmware issue that can be fixed, and are the engineers aware of this problem?

Thanks,

 

[A600]

Is there something special I need to do to Windows to get this working?

Not that I know of. Me and another user from the gp32spain boards got it working without major problems.

 

[MatthewCallis]

I downloaded a Windows XP image to try on my Macbook and it compiles... so the problem was just my laptop for some still unknown reason. Thanks for all your help A600!

 

[dgame]

I got an A320 a few days ago. While the software could use some work the hardware is very good.

The controls are the best of any of my portables thus far. The larger face buttons give it a slight edge over the DS lite in terms of control comfort and playability. The DS shoulder buttons are better though. The A320 Dpad is awesome!

The screen is also very good. It is bright and games look good.

The best way I can describe the physical feeling is like someone put a nice little screen in the original NES game pad and added more buttons. I don't have an original NES pad around to compare it to but the shape and size seem similar.

I hope they continue to make and support the A320. The hardware is ready. Once the software improves this should be a great 2D emulation and homebrew machine.

 

[gibberish]

do any online shops currently have them in stock? dealextreme still have 9 days

 

[absolofdoom]

Finally got mine. Lovely device, really unexpectedly well built. The buttons are great. I was a little disappointed in the video player, however, as it won't play any of my movies encoded for my iPhone or my psp, but that's not that big a deal to me.

do any online shops currently have them in stock? dealextreme still have 9 days

i think they're back in stock on dealextreme now.

 

[Mjlink]

Hiya folks,

Just wanted to see what the whole Y/B button issue is about on this bugger. Also curious as to how broke SNES & Megadrive are on the device.

Now that this is winding up in more pockets I'm debating myself into giving one a go.

Thanks in advance

Link

 

[DixieDawg]

Hiya folks,

Just wanted to see what the whole Y/B button issue is about on this bugger. Also curious as to how broke SNES & Megadrive are on the device.

Now that this is winding up in more pockets I'm debating myself into giving one a go.

Thanks in advance

Link

I have one and it's great. I would recommend you to get one. I do wish that most of the emulators would support zipped roms.

 

[Mjlink]

I have one and it's great. I would recommend you to get one. I do wish that most of the emulators would support zipped roms.


totally appreciate the reply. Was kinda hoping someone can answer the ?s I asked. Great is an adjective like nice.

Ciao,

Link

 

[PoisonedV]

i bought one. this cant end well