Ultimate Handheld Emulation

jimi_t

(Forgive the double post from the 'games' forum, but I think its worth it)





# Compatible ROM Emulators: NES, SNES, Megadrive, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo and even some Capcom Roms (CPS1 and CPS2).

# Compatible Video Formats: FLV, WMV, ASF, RM, AVI, MPEG, MP4, RMVB, SWF / Image viewer (JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG)

# Compatible Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC

# I/O Slots
- Earphone jack
- Mini-USB slot
- Mini-SD slot (4GB Internal memory)
- AV OUT (output to TV - NTSC or PAL, 16:9 or 4:3)
- Stereo Speakers
- FM Radio with recording function
- Voice Recorder (MP3, WAV)
- Ebook reader (with text to speech function)

http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/multi-platform-portable-gaming-entertainment-station/

66 euro and they'll ship to Ireland. 2.8" QVGA screen is a tad on the small side but for 66 euro this is simply the greatest thing I have ever seen.

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, but what's it like to use?
I mean, are they're tons of Chinese text to get through?
What's the PC software for it, is that in English?
What is the quality of the emulation, is it spot on?
Will any region ROM for a system work?

Looks like a nice buy but I'd have to see one running or at least read a review of it first.

KeRbDoG

Ummm, €10.74 for 7-15 day shipping (cheapest option) so €75.81 total.
I'm tempted! CiDeRmAn - wanna got halves?

CiDeRmAn

Sure, why not.
If it does what it says on the tin it's better than a GP2X, certainly cheaper.

When I had a nosey about there seems to be a great deal of open source handhelds floating about, the Pandora for one, if it's real it's quite nice, able to play Quake 2 and 3, PS emulator as well, I guess it all depends on the support.
The new GP2X Wiz looks nice too, http://www.gp2xwiz.com/ ,but all the 3D support in the world won't help if there are no emulators to support it.

So roll on the open source handheld with PS and Saturn support, maybe N64 emulation thrown in for good measure, now that I'd fly myself to Korea to pick up!

animaX

Wow, this looks cool!! But most of those features I have already on the psp.

KeRbDoG

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Sure, why not.
If it does what it says on the tin it's better than a GP2X, certainly cheaper.

When I had a nosey about there seems to be a great deal of open source handhelds floating about, the Pandora for one, if it's real it's quite nice, able to play Quake 2 and 3, PS emulator as well, I guess it all depends on the support.
The new GP2X Wiz looks nice too, http://www.gp2xwiz.com/ ,but all the 3D support in the world won't help if there are no emulators to support it.

So roll on the open source handheld with PS and Saturn support, maybe N64 emulation thrown in for good measure, now that I'd fly myself to Korea to pick up!

Cool, lets talk later so

K.O.Kiki

I want this, really bad.

Seriously, why the hell are there no cheap, good consoles anymore?
Even a DS still costs €130 with €35+ games.

I'm seriously starting to wonder how much longer they can keep these high prices up...

CiDeRmAn

Pity we don't know what the screen is like, could be good, could be dung, same goes for the battery life, and the build quality, seen some well made Chinese knockoffs and some abysmal ones.

Mark Hamill

Youtube Videos of the device in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76EWGXDT9OY

(The clips call it a Dingoo Digital, and some other sites call it a DS, meaning "Delightfully Small")


Edited to fix youtube videos

LoGiE

eddhorse

Is it not a game boy Micro?

eddhorse

My bad

Its got more buttons
http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/gba_micro_handson.jpg

KeRbDoG

A review (and helpful site) of the Dingoo A320:
http://www.dingoo-digital.com/articles/reviews/dingoo-a320-review-and-suggestions

KeRbDoG

So I got one and never used it so I've put it up on adverts if anyone wants one for €50
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=127383

Bob Z

kerbdog wrote: »

So I got one and never used it so I've put it up on adverts if anyone wants one for €50
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=127383

Do you still have this?

batari

Nope, I do

And it rocks. :pac:

Bob Z

atariman wrote: »

Nope, I do

And it rocks. :pac:

Whats it like for watching video on? how does it compare to the gp2x?

Jack burton

This looks pretty nice, might pick one up, anyone here gets one put up a little review so we can all know what its like

cable842

you are right man the psp is the king of emulation.

animaX wrote: »

Wow, this looks cool!! But most of those features I have already on the psp.

batari

I've never personally used it for Mp3's/Video's of any format, only gaming. I have my iPod and phone for video's.

Some emulators are better than others on it. For me the Snes emulator is almost perfect, although Mode 7 won't run on it. (No MarioKart, nooooo!)
Nes, GB, GBC, GBA, CPS1, CPS2, Neo Geo (MVS) all run close to perfect.
Have had trouble getting the Megadrive, Master System and GG running, but haven't put much effort into finding decent Emulators yet. Just pretty happy with the games I have on it at the mo.

Have also read there are now Atari Lynx and a 5200 Emulator (I think) available, will have to dig around the web later.

pinksoir

Would you recommend this or the Wiz? The Wiz is only about 110 euro now on play-asia...

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-d1-49-en-70-2z59.html.

Tough choice, but I'm leaning toward Wiz atm.

batari

First time I've seen that, looks pretty good. Has it come out since the Dingoo? If so, probably worth getting more then, probably better at emulation. The Dingoo is relying a lot on gamers updating hardware for it. For example, there was a problem with holding two buttons together, so say you're playing Supermarioworld and pick up a shell and then try to jump, the shell would fly off.
Thankfully there was soon an application available to fix this but it wasn't an official upgrade or anything.
But then again, I think the Dingoo is a lot cheaper, I'm pretty sure they're on eBay for about €80

CathalDublin

I've the Wiz, its great for older mame games, I'll post a video of it running on youtube in the next couple of days, the dingoo looks to have a much better button layout

pinksoir

atariman wrote: »

First time I've seen that, looks pretty good. Has it come out since the Dingoo? If so, probably worth getting more then, probably better at emulation. The Dingoo is relying a lot on gamers updating hardware for it. For example, there was a problem with holding two buttons together, so say you're playing Supermarioworld and pick up a shell and then try to jump, the shell would fly off.
Thankfully there was soon an application available to fix this but it wasn't an official upgrade or anything.
But then again, I think the Dingoo is a lot cheaper, I'm pretty sure they're on eBay for about €80

Yeah, I'd been looking at the last gen GP2X and it seemed really great for emu. It's pretty much built for it. All open source, linux based. It has a pretty fast CPU, loads of memory, there's even talk of PSX emu's running on it, not to mention Sega 32X. There was a pretty massive developer scene for the last gen (pre Wiz), but it seems like the community isn't so big anymore. I think it's partly to do with the fact that there's a new handheld in development (it's in it's last stage, nearly ready for release) called the Pandora, which can run N64 emu perfectly, and PSX. It looks pretty amazing tbh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYDDFwyG0U

Here's a comparison between Wiz and Dingoo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33IdcH3Wb8

I'd really love if someone had both and could at least try and give an objective opinion. There is rampant fanboyism when it comes to the Wiz. The Dingoo can be dual booted with Linux which fixes many issues with the emulators. Apparently they all run full speed now. There also seems to be a healthy dev scene around it too, much more so than the Wiz. Which is weird given that Game Park have a few decent handhelds under their belt at this stage.

Also, here's a British site that deals with all the above. I think the dude who runs it is actually developing the Pandora (could just be a tester, but seems like the originator if you watch his vids). Some cool videos, especially the add-on for the iPhone... Wipeout looks pretty sweet on it!

landsleaving

Definitely gonna order one of these. Think the Dingoo, the buttons on the Wiz just look awful.

Bit of zelda on the bus

steve_

Looks like there a dreamcast emu coming to the pandora too

but this thing looks very difficult to set up and use

landsleaving

atariman wrote: »

First time I've seen that, looks pretty good. Has it come out since the Dingoo? If so, probably worth getting more then, probably better at emulation. The Dingoo is relying a lot on gamers updating hardware for it. For example, there was a problem with holding two buttons together, so say you're playing Supermarioworld and pick up a shell and then try to jump, the shell would fly off.
Thankfully there was soon an application available to fix this but it wasn't an official upgrade or anything.
But then again, I think the Dingoo is a lot cheaper, I'm pretty sure they're on eBay for about €80

Any chance you have links for that fix and any others I'd need? (If it's ok with the mods of course) I just ordered one off ebay (serious impulse purchase there!) €70, so a pretty good deal. free delivery too.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390079882291&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

batari

A quick google of Dingoo A320 Forums will set ya on the way. Let me know how ya get on with it when it lands.

pinksoir

landsleaving wrote: »

Definitely gonna order one of these. Think the Dingoo, the buttons on the Wiz just look awful.

Bit of zelda on the bus

Yeah, that'd be one of the things that'd turn me off as well. Also, unless it's able to run 64 emulators, the processing power is overkill. As far as I can tell the A320 can pretty much run every emulator fine, after a linux dual boot is installed. It can even run the snes fx chip games through snes9x. It's not 3d enabled, but again, if the wiz can't run 3d games then being 3d enabled is overkill for it. Also it seems like all the developers are waiting for the pandora, so 3d may never become a reality on the wiz. Still, for 30 quid more, I'm tempted to err on the side of caution and get the Wiz. One of the reasons being it has a comix viewer...

steve_ wrote: »

Looks like there a dreamcast emu coming to the pandora too

but this thing looks very difficult to set up and use

I can't imagine it'd be too difficult. I'd say that it'll come pre-packaged with emulators and such. Plus I'd say there'll be a great community too. Seriously though, Dreamcast emu?? mmmm. Delicious.

landsleaving

atariman wrote: »

A quick google of Dingoo A320 Forums will set ya on the way. Let me know how ya get on with it when it lands.

Will do, cheers Just hope it doesn't take too long to arrive now

Vurnon San Benito

Regards Chinavasion.
Recently ordered a phone from there (will see what quality it is).

No problem getting past customs, box opened or anything?
Cheers,
Doocey.

landsleaving

After a delay in customs and a €20 VAT attack I now have a Dingoo A320.

Initial impressions are:

Simple enough to set up, just move your roms into a folder and you're ready to go. Emulators are on the device already.

Firmware update was a bit trickier, had to dig around the web for the latest firmware but in the end installing it was simple as well.

Adding new roms for certain formats was a bit awkward since some need to be converted to a specific file type, and most need to be unzipped, except CPS1 roms, which need to bu zip files. Lists are available online though so it's not a big deal really.

Some of the emulators aren't perfect. The Mega Drive one initially on it was fairly dodgy, but a better one is available and works very well. SNES emulation isn't perfect and games with fx or mode7 chips (starwing/mario kart) won't run. I haven't tried installing linux yet however, so this may help.

Adding new emulators is as easy as finding them, putting them into the right folder and loading roms. Except the game boy and game boy color emu, which I had to find a fix for, took a fair bit of searching. Apparently it only affects a few dingoos though so I was just unlucky.

Every other emulator I've tried is perfect. Highlights are the NES, Game Boy (after finding the fix) and CPS1/2. All run amazingly well.

Plenty of customisation options are available and I still haven't tried overclocking, which also might improve SNES emulation (which is still very good, just not perfect)

The buttons are fine, sturdy enough and controls are customisable for each game which is handy. Changing volume is slightly awkaward but its not too bad. The d-pad is good, but a hadoken in street fighter takes a tiny bit too much effort. Could just need to get used to it and it's better than an xbox 360 d-pad. Console itself is a little on the flimsy side, but its light and very portable. Screen is a tiny bit small, but you can see everything fine and it can be hooked up to a tv. It's about the size of the original Game boy advance screen.

Other features work surprisingly well, video looks good, as good as an ipod. Radio is perfect, mp3 sounds great through headphones and the ebook reader is a nice addition. Only .txt files can be used but considering you can get everything on project guttenburg in .txt format its pretty handy.

Yet to hook it to a tv.

So initial impressions are very very good, and I can see it getting better with a bit of work. I'd recommend it if you're willing to tinker with it, but only if you want the portability, otherwise it's no better than emulators on a pc and a snes/playstation/etc. joypad adaptor. Plus it's strictly one player only. Still for the handiness of putting all those games in one device its great.

I'm very happy with it anyway.