A320 Information - Read This First!

[Chip]

Specs:

• CPU - Ingenic JZ4732 @ 400MHz (MIPS)
  
• RAM - 32MB
  
• Internal Storage - 4GB
  
• Additional Storage - MiniSD/SDHC (MicroSD/SDHC with adapter)
  
• Inputs - D-Pad, 2 shoulder, 4 face, Start & Select buttons, Mic.
  
• Outputs - Stereo Speakers, Headphone Jack & TV-out w/ included cable
  
• Display - 2.8" LCD, 320x240 resolution, 16M colors
  
• Battery - 3.7V 1700mAH (6.29WH) Li-Ion, approx. 7 hours run time
  
• Video Playback - RM, MP4, 3GP, AVI, ASF, MOV, FLV, MPEG
  
• Audio Playback - MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, RA
  
• Radio - Digital FM Tuner
  
• Recording - Supports digital recording of voice and radio
  
• Software Support - Free SDK available
  
• Dimensions - 4.92in x 2.17in x 0.59in
  
• Weight - 11.53 oz.

The A320 ships with a media player and emulators for the following systems pre-installed: CPS1/CPS2, Gameboy Advance, NeoGeo, NES, Sega Megadrive, and Super Nintendo.

For more details on the Dingoo A320, visit the A320 Wiki. It contains links to all the currently-available emulators and native games, as well as development tools and instructions for operation.

For news and updates, Dingoo-Scene is the unofficial A320 blog.

 

[second exodous]

Is this a joke? If it is you went to a lot of trouble with these sites and photos.

 

[Chip]

No, it's completely real. In the UK, GBAX has them in stock here. For the US, you can get them from DealExtreme.

 

[second exodous]

Wow, it is real. I think the flood gates are opening on open hand helds. When I was in Brazil I went to a underground labyrinth two floors underneath a highrise filled with cheap Asian mp3 players and some cheap game machines. It was funny, I tried to speak Portuguese to people selling things and they'd ask me in broken English if I spoke it and said they spoke it better than Portuguese. This was a few years ago and the electronics didn't play many games, they were about as much as the A320 though. This looks like a cool little hand held. I wish it didn't have a MIPS processor though, not as much is ported to them.

EDIT: Oh yeah, instruction in Brazilian Portuguese!, I can understand that. After looking at the screen shots the interface looked a lot like the devices I saw, but this must be a major hardware update from when I went there last. I asked and they said it ran some sort of Java, that's what every booth said also. Every booth sold about the same thing in a different casing, some of them were marked Sony, some Nintendo, Nokia, and a zillion other marks. I think it might just be common software that is installed on devices, because like I said the ones I saw and tried only played NES.

Anyway, I really interested in hearing from people that have these, I think I might get one, they're only $83.

 

[lippy]

Looks pretty sweet. It'd be a nice complement the pandora I think. Can't wait for the "big tech site" reviews coming up, see how little 'un goes.

EDIT: mmhh... been reading around and don't like the sound of the company... http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... l#comments However it does seem to be getting quite a community, hopefully they can resolve all their issues, and not become another GPH

 

[mr.bear]

Honestly, I really don't think the floodgates are quite that open yet. A lot of these hand held systems seemed to made for media playback first and then have the gaming kind of just thrown in as almost an afterthought. This causes problems with the controls, button layout, etc. The A320 just gets most of this right. It's definitely an advantage that the company was making games for cell phones. To me, this PMP seems like it was made for Dingoo's 3D games first and foremost, and then had the media playback and emulation thrown in. Fortunately, they got everything right on the hardware side and software can easily be picked up. I do hope they decide to release the sources for the emulators, because they really aren't all that bad outside of some needed optimization. Overall, I really enjoy this device even at the state it's in. I think it's a great value. I can't wait to see where this thing goes.

I'm really wondering what they are planning for this device though. So far they've released a few 3D games and just given them away. Are they planning on selling games eventually? Are the 3D games just a greater incentive for buying these devices?

 

[Polossatik]

On the dingo 4gb file system there is in the root a file called "A320 DIN GOO IB-English.pdf"
This is the manual. It's also here

 

[KungPhoo]

Another cheap source where to order from:
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_...-portable-gaming-entertainment-station-black/

 

[Polossatik]

nice page with information on video and audio codecs that work:
http://sience.schattenkind.net/dingoo/D ... 20_eng.htm

adding to the wiki....

 

[Chip]

It was already there :wink:

 

[lingenfr]

It is a good page, but I still couldn't tell whether it will play a H.264/AAC video.

 

[Polossatik]

It was already there :wink:

yep, but added it to more visible "what can it do" section.

I've tested files from http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/

the MP4 (AVI Mpeg4 video, AC3 surround sound ) and MSMP4 (AVI Microsoft mpeg4, mp3 stereo sound) 480p files of - they don't play properly - erratic playback en some smearing - looks simply caused by to high in resolution.
The H.264 mov file say's "unknown media format"
the MP4 ( IPod 5G 320×180, 62 MB ) and m4V IPod (Touch / IPhone 640×360, 115 MB - renamed to .MP4 ) files, both say "unknown media format".

the "PSP" download for "Elephants dream" on http://www.hdx4.com/english/movies/elephantsdream.php works fine.

used Handbrake.fr to convert the BigBuckBunny MSMP4 file using the "psp" preset. Works great.

hope it helps.

 

[mr.bear]

Looks like the dark days are going to be behind us soon.

I've done in about 24h what I expected me to take much longer:
disassembled de file with the LCD initialization code (found in the
unbricking tool), figured out the LCD configuration and interface, and
patched the Ingenic kernel to make the framebuffer work.
I attach a picture which is most likely the first one of a linux
kernel booting in the dingoo A320.
There's still quite a lot of work to be done in order to have an
usable kernel/rootfs on the Dingoo, but the hardest part, the
framebuffer, is done.

http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... again.html