Details of Gemei A380 emerge
This thread on the A320freeforums and this thread on openhandhelds.org both concern emerging news on the Gemei A380, which is apparently the Dingoo Mark 2. This picture has been doing the rounds:
This is obviously a sketch – down to the somewhat odd looking unevenly rounded corners (looks like a felt tip pen to me!), and the surface reflection which so conveniently interacts with the blue screen to form what looks like the PSP’s standard wallpaper (how long did that take in Photoshop to get right?). Not that it doesn’t all look rather pretty IMHO, mind you.
These are apparently its specs (thanks Bingo83):
It seems they are 699 yuan (about $100 US) - here. The main thing it appears to have over the A320 is “PS” emulation – which is, presumably, PSP or PS1 emulation. Is this the beast Jim of Dingoo Digital foreshadowed here in March?
This is my take on things:
If you like what you know about the A320, just get one now (and do it by clicking here, or here, thanks:)). More to the point, I wouldn’t let the A380 – whatever it is or turns out to be – affect your A320 purchasing decision. For the A380, I’m offering good odds that things are likely to work out like this:
Update: 1 October 2011 - For what appears to be a real A380 that can be seen and touched, look here: http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2011/10/dingoo-a380-review.html
This is obviously a sketch – down to the somewhat odd looking unevenly rounded corners (looks like a felt tip pen to me!), and the surface reflection which so conveniently interacts with the blue screen to form what looks like the PSP’s standard wallpaper (how long did that take in Photoshop to get right?). Not that it doesn’t all look rather pretty IMHO, mind you.
These are apparently its specs (thanks Bingo83):
| Model A380 (4G) 4G memory Flash memory storage media Built-in lithium battery 1600mAH battery Maximum support expansion cards 32GB Mini SD Card Transmission Interface USB 2.0 interface 4.3 inches screen size 16 million color screen features 480 × 272 TFT color display Image viewer support JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG formats picture browsing Read the text to support To support the video format support RMVB, RM, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG, DAT, MP4, ASF format video format Flash animation support Support audio format mp3, wma, flac, ape Recording function to support the FM function support Speakers have PS/3D/GBA/NEO/FC/SFC/GB/GBC/CPS1/CPS2/MD simulation game features support for games Annex headset, standard USB wire, AV cable, charger TTS reading performance in support of other Unknown what chipset its using and whether there is compatability with the A320 or the X760+ I am sure more will be known soon enough. |
This is my take on things:
- VAPOURWARE?: I’d not worry about its effect on the Dingoo scene until small technicalities are sorted out – you know – minor stuff like video proof of its actual physical existence
- HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER: The A380 might have the same underlying hardware as the A320 – or it may not. If it does have the same hardware, it can only be good for the A320, as this means A380 software will likely work on the A320 too. If it does not have the same hardware, then it’s really a completely different machine, and will have to gather its own developer momentum, which means it will probably – if the A320 is anything to go by - be quite some time before a homebrew scene emerges for it. Remember, the A320 has been around since mid/late 08 – and it’s only now that some Hello Worlds and WIP emulators are appearing. And if it turns out to be a better A320 … well, we do want a better one after all, don’t we?
- IS IT ACTUALLY FOR SALE?: This doesn’t actually exist if you live outside China (or even if you don’t, I suspect) unless you can buy one easily.
- HISTORY DOES NOT GENERALLY REPEAT ITSELF: The A320 is what it is today because it is a capable little machine with potential – but more importantly, it happened to emerge at a particular point in the handheld emulator market in the West. At this time, It stacks up very well for emulation compared against its immediate handheld retrogaming competitors (the GP32x/GP2x/flashed PSP/NDS with flashcart/Ipod). The Wiz and Pandora are almost here – but aren’t quite here yet. The Dingoo is viable now because it is a hilariously cheap and cheerful little machine which happens to work (just) well enough, promises to work even better – and best of all, can actually be purchased. What will things be like for the A380 when and if we ever see it readily available outside China?
If you like what you know about the A320, just get one now (and do it by clicking here, or here, thanks:)). More to the point, I wouldn’t let the A380 – whatever it is or turns out to be – affect your A320 purchasing decision. For the A380, I’m offering good odds that things are likely to work out like this:
Update: 1 October 2011 - For what appears to be a real A380 that can be seen and touched, look here: http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2011/10/dingoo-a380-review.html
I think it is wrong to plan a new console when the 320 started to have many developers working on it. That will make many people is considered to develop applications for the 320, is a product that gave it more life, could make a lot of money and develop a prototype better. It also could be a fake of competition to harm the dingoo 320. But i had to buy another dingoo for develop finrware, because with this news, i will wait a time.
ReplyDeleteIt's exactly like you say: the A320 is here now and is a charming, cheap, well built and quite competent device in a nice small form factor. It has even attracted respectable amount of interest from devs. If you want PS1 emulation etc (which I doubt this will do A380 well anyway..) and/or more power you might as well go for the Pandora, once it arrives.
ReplyDeleteLooks interesting though, but way to early to tell if this is even close to production. Anyway, widescreen doesn't do much for retro gaming. :)
I think is a fake information about A380 just to harm sales of Dingoo A320, because if a new system (A380 will be available soon) then who will buy a Dingoo A320? The sales number of Dingoo A320 will go down, and that is too bad, I like Dingoo A320
ReplyDeleteKill me.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's not even been confirmed yet so for now i'd stick with the dingoo or gemei
ReplyDeletewell, i'm currently in china, so i'll take a look at this and let people know more details.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous - please let us know if you find anything out.
ReplyDeleteAs there is no concrete information on this besides a badly drawn mockup on a wholesale site, this probably doesn't even exist. Gemei may or may not be actually trying to sell these, but chances are they haven't even designed them for real. They're probably just putting the idea out there and if somebody bites, they can throw one together in a matter of a few weeks and start churning them out.
ReplyDeletePersonally, since these devices are made specifically for emulating older 8 and 16 bit consoles, I think it is a mistake going to a wide format display. The native aspect ratio of anything this is likely to run is 4:3, so it would make much more sense to keep its display the same.
http://72.14.203.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://product.tgbus.com/item/76/363/evaluate_909.shtml&prev=hp&usg=ALkJrhg4eKP4ktYYKDYyIufDe0s8-ycsqw
ReplyDeleteStill no news about this Gemei A380 ?
ReplyDeleteWhen will it be released ?
I'll put it this way. We have no idea if this is real, The picture is fake, It'll be more expensive then the a320, all it has is a bigger screen, AND it probably won't be out in a while(if it's real)and by then the a320 will be at least $10 less. and you'll be paying more for just a slightly bigger screen.
ReplyDeleteI agree. But it may not be $10 less. and we don't know if what we have is we have is the full specs
ReplyDeletethis is a good post here. Love the Waiting for Godot poster idea. Very cleaver.
ReplyDeleteYou mean "clever"?
ReplyDeleteYou're a b****, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteNo, you idiot. He MEANT to say, "cleaver"!
ReplyDeletehere's a new upadte that didn't really emerge in English blogs yet.. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=fr&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D27787&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dimp3%2Bgemei%2Ba380%26hl%3Dfr%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:fr:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ACPW_fr___BE342&rurl=translate.google.be&usg=ALkJrhiOYhbDioZpgK6OsX1YTe-9YT1NRA
ReplyDelete