Ultimate Handheld Emulation

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

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...

Youtube Videos of the device in action:



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


Edited to fix youtube videos

LoGiE

My bad

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

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

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:



Here's a comparison between Wiz and Dingoo:



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!

Looks like there a dreamcast emu coming to the pandora too

but this thing looks very difficult to set up and use

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

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.