Knc Unveils Hr-2800 Do-it-all Handheld


NzoMatrix

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Interesting device 3.6-inch LCD, 400MHz CPU, and a homebrew GUI but only 3 face buttons and the d-pad looks weird. $127 price.

20061003165834.jpg


If the bevy of PMP / gaming hybrid devices hasn't exactly met your expectations (or came to fruition at all), KNC is throwing down an impressive do-it-all handheld that puts similar alternatives to shame. The HR-2800 may resemble a jazzed-up Sega Nomad at first glance, but beneath the 3.6-inch LCD is some serious potential. Housing a 400MHz CPU and a homebrew GUI to boot, the handheld plays back AVI, MPEG4, DivX, and XviD, while supporting MP3 and FLAC (audiophiles rejoice) on the musical side. Boasting a built-in file manager, portable version of "Winamp," a full-fledged picture / text viewer, and 1.3 megapixel camera, this jack-of-all-trades can even export full-motion video to your television via its video output. In case you're looking to get your retro game on, the unit apparently sports an NES / GBA emulator, and just in case the (admittedly skimpy) 1GB of internal storage isn't roomy enough, you can add the space you need via its SD slot. While the amount of goodies crammed into the HR-2800 may garner praise, the real applause goes to the price -- at just CNY999 ($127), we've got to wonder if these KNC folks aren't just skimming the market.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/06/knc-unv...dheld/#comments
 
That D-pad is a nice way of avoiding the euro patent as it is 4 buttons yet looks like it will work quite well, better than sonys PSP patent avoiding dpad.

edit: spelling
 
Fishbong posted on Oct 6 2006 at 06:12 PM said:
Well, if its an 400 MHz Xscale its certainly not too impressive. But Winamp? Yum!
Is it an xscale? if so then damn.
 
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Goity posted on Oct 6 2006 at 06:12 PM said:
Fishbong posted on Oct 6 2006 at 06:12 PM said:
Well at if its an 400 MHz Xscale its certainly not too impressive. But Winamp? Yum!
Is it an xscale? if so then damn.
I have no clue. But just stating "400MHz" without any info on the actual chipset looks like a "use high numbers to attract customers" strategy to me.
 
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I've looked a bit further into this today, I can't find any ram or cpu specs and i've even translated chinese websites.

One of the sites claims it has 10,000 games, others that is has NES hardware, it is looking like one of those cheap ebay players again...
 
craigix posted on Oct 6 2006 at 11:23 PM said:
I've looked a bit further into this today, I can't find any ram or cpu specs and i've even translated chinese websites.

One of the sites claims it has 10,000 games, others that is has NES hardware, it is looking like one of those cheap ebay players again...
I agree
 
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craigix posted on Oct 6 2006 at 09:00 AM said:
That D-pad is a nice way of avoiding the euro patient as it is 4 buttons yet looks like it will work quite well, better than sonys PSP patient avoiding dpad.

edit: spelling
Nintendo's D-Pad patent expired long ago. The Sega Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Lynx, PC-Engine, PS1, PS2, PSP, XBox, XBox 360 and many many other systems all use D-Pads. I must be the 30th person to tell you this... why do you keep claiming D-Pads break patent? They don't, now.

For this system .. if it has a 400 MHz ARM9 or 11 .. nice. :) XScale .. ew. It'd perform like a 200 MHz ARM9. Its build quality looks pretty bad, and I can't make much sense of its controls- they look terribly uncomfortable and the machine's not very ergonomic. Since all they're going on about is its ability to play MPEG4, it most certainly is another garbagey HK PEP like those on Chinavasion. The NES 'emulator' is probably really a Famicom-on-a-Chip and maybe 10 or 20 small crappy ROMs, repeated many times in a menu to look like 10,000. GBA .. well, that just sounds like BS. Maybe they ported VisualBoyAdvance (time elapsed: 10-15 minutes. Estimated performance level: 5-10 fps.)
 
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Epicenter posted on Oct 6 2006 at 09:57 PM said:
craigix posted on Oct 6 2006 at 09:00 AM said:
That D-pad is a nice way of avoiding the euro patient as it is 4 buttons yet looks like it will work quite well, better than sonys PSP patient avoiding dpad.

edit: spelling
Nintendo's D-Pad patent expired long ago. The Sega Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Lynx, PC-Engine, PS1, PS2, PSP, XBox, XBox 360 and many many other systems all use D-Pads. I must be the 30th person to tell you this... why do you keep claiming D-Pads break patent? They don't, now.

For this system .. if it has a 400 MHz ARM9 or 11 .. nice. :) XScale .. ew. It'd perform like a 200 MHz ARM9. Its build quality looks pretty bad, and I can't make much sense of its controls- they look terribly uncomfortable and the machine's not very ergonomic. Since all they're going on about is its ability to play MPEG4, it most certainly is another garbagey HK PEP like those on Chinavasion. The NES 'emulator' is probably really a Famicom-on-a-Chip and maybe 10 or 20 small crappy ROMs, repeated many times in a menu to look like 10,000. GBA .. well, that just sounds like BS. Maybe they ported VisualBoyAdvance (time elapsed: 10-15 minutes. Estimated performance level: 5-10 fps.)
I don't think that they could put a 400 MHz ARM9 or 11 in and still sell it for $127.
 
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Yeah, it's absolutely not going to be an ARM11. But an XScale at 400 Mhz probably costs more than the ARM9 option. The ARM9xx series scales to exactly 400 MHz, there do not appear to be any cores faster, which makes it an interesting coincidence. I wouldn't doubt if these machines featured NO 2D acceleration though, not even the meager blitter the GP2X has.
 
Epicenter posted on Oct 7 2006 at 03:57 AM said:
craigix posted on Oct 6 2006 at 09:00 AM said:
That D-pad is a nice way of avoiding the euro patient as it is 4 buttons yet looks like it will work quite well, better than sonys PSP patient avoiding dpad.

edit: spelling
Nintendo's D-Pad patent expired long ago. The Sega Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Lynx, PC-Engine, PS1, PS2, PSP, XBox, XBox 360 and many many other systems all use D-Pads. I must be the 30th person to tell you this... why do you keep claiming D-Pads break patent? They don't, now.

It has expired last year in the US. Don't know if it's still going in the European union. AFAIK, it's the cross shaped dpad that was patented. Beside nintendo's console, only the dreamcast use it, maybe Sega have bought a license to nintendo, who knows. All the other pad use a slightly different design.
 
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pepone posted on Oct 7 2006 at 11:51 AM said:
Epicenter posted on Oct 7 2006 at 03:57 AM said:
craigix posted on Oct 6 2006 at 09:00 AM said:
That D-pad is a nice way of avoiding the euro patient as it is 4 buttons yet looks like it will work quite well, better than sonys PSP patient avoiding dpad.

edit: spelling
Nintendo's D-Pad patent expired long ago. The Sega Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Lynx, PC-Engine, PS1, PS2, PSP, XBox, XBox 360 and many many other systems all use D-Pads. I must be the 30th person to tell you this... why do you keep claiming D-Pads break patent? They don't, now.

It has expired last year in the US. Don't know if it's still going in the European union. AFAIK, it's the cross shaped dpad that was patented. Beside nintendo's console, only the dreamcast use it, maybe Sega have bought a license to nintendo, who knows. All the other pad use a slightly different design.
Atchelly the Dreamcast's is lifted a little, as it isn't exactly the same as the 4 way Nintendo D pad
 
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pepone posted on Oct 7 2006 at 04:51 AM said:
AFAIK, it's the cross shaped dpad that was patented. Beside nintendo's console, only the dreamcast use it, maybe Sega have bought a license to nintendo, who knows. All the other pad use a slightly different design.
The thing is, DaveC's been claiming for the better part of a year that any D-Pad period is a patent violation as an excuse to not bother pursuing having GPH install one on future GP2X units and thereby not have to deal with the issue at all.
 
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Epicenter posted on Oct 7 2006 at 08:15 PM said:
pepone posted on Oct 7 2006 at 04:51 AM said:
AFAIK, it's the cross shaped dpad that was patented. Beside nintendo's console, only the dreamcast use it, maybe Sega have bought a license to nintendo, who knows. All the other pad use a slightly different design.
The thing is, DaveC's been claiming for the better part of a year that any D-Pad period is a patent violation as an excuse to not bother pursuing having GPH install one on future GP2X units and thereby not have to deal with the issue at all.
I'm pretty sure DaveC never said something like that. ;)
 
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I'm not sure Dave said that either but he did point out that the QD pad is an alternative design to the nintendo dpad so avoids any patents.

And we addressed the stick bias as soon as it was found out and rotated the stick.

Now we are looking at the possibility of retrofitting qd style pads, but we have to be careful and pay people to check on patents first.

While that is happening DaveC will fit you a qd pad.
 
Looks like the other generic player listed in the other thread with the fijitsu chipset.

Does not specify the CPU, but it did describe itself as using a fijitsu CPU, if that is another ARM or something else, I dont know. But it has a DSP.
 
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