Sven Slootweg's Blog

I recently ordered a pretty amazing product from China. It’s called the Dingoo A320, also known as Gemei A320 or Chinavasion Multi Platform Portable Gaming Entertainment Station (yes, that’s really the name Chinavasion gives it).

Even though I haven’t received my Dingoo A320 yet, I’m going to write some stuff about it in advance. As soon as I get it, I will write a review and post it on this weblog.

In short, it’s an amazing multimedia device. Some pictures to drool at (this is the black version, there is also a white version available):

It has some very amazing specs for a multimedia player from China. Some of the most remarkable specs:
* Built-in emulators for 3D/CPS2/CPS1/GBA/MVS/NEOGEO/NES/SFC (SNES)/SMD
* 7-8 hours battery life (not just manufacturer claimed, it’s actually been tested on this)
* Lightweight: 110 grams
* Plays MP4, AVI (even DivX and XviD), RealMedia, Quicktime MOV, ASF, 3GP, Flash Video, SWF (up to Flash 6), MP3, FLAC, APE, RealAudio, WMA, WAV
* 4GB internal flash memory, has a MiniSDHC slot to further expand the memory
* Comes with USB data/charging cable (including power socket to USB adaptor), earplugs, and most important, a manual in decent English
* Built-in FM radio.
* Microphone. Besides recording from the microphone, it can also record from the FM radio, which is pretty unique!
* Has four action buttons, a d-pad (directional button), shoulder buttons, and start/select buttons. Oh, and a power button of course.
* One of the most remarkable features: it has TV-Out. You can hook it up to your TV screen, and actually watch a movie or play a game on your TV using your Dingoo. As far as I know, it outputs DVD resolution/quality from the TV-Out, and the video is really clear and high quality.

Some tech specs:
* CPU Ingenic JZ4732 @ 336MHz, underclocked from 400MHz (MIPS architecture)
* RAM 32MB at 133MHz
* 2.8″ LCD Display

Also, a Linux distribution has been made for the Dingoo A320, called Dingux. It can be used to run better emulators (since some problems have been reported with the original emulators) and play homebrew games. TV output, however, is not yet supported in Dinugx as far as I know. Since you can actually choose whether to start the original firmware or Dingux when you power it on, that shouldn’t really be a problem.

Another very good thing about the Dingoo A320 is that Dingoo Digital actively encourages homebrew. They released a Software Development Kit, and did not implement any security measures regarding unofficial applications. A lot of homebrew has been developed for the Dingoo A320, including Dingux. A more complete list of homebrew applications and ports of arcade/PC games is below.

Homebrew Emulators
* Game Boy and Game Boy Color
* MSX (openMSX dingux)
* Neo Geo Pocket
* PC Engine (in progress)
* Picodrive Megadrive/MegaCD (dingux)
* Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear (in progress)
* WonderSwan and WonderSwan Color (in progress)
* Magnavox Odyssey 2
* ColecoVision

Arcade Game Ports
* Centipede and Millipede
* MAME
* Mikie (Konami arcade game)
* Pac-man en Ms. Pac-man
* FinalBurn Alpha

PC/Console Game Ports
* Prboom Engine (Doom, Hexen, Heretic, Duke3d)
* Quake
* Dodgin’ Diamonds 1 and 2
* Biniax 2
* Gnurobbo
* Super Transball 2
* Defendguin
* Waternet
* Sdlroids
* Spout
* Tyrian
* Rise of the Triads
* Open Liero
* REminiscence
* Blockrage

The one thing that is really missing on the Dingoo is a volume control button. This has to be done from the firmware/Dingux menu. Hacks for this exist, but it’s just one thing they could’ve improved. Since the processing power of a Dingoo A320 is pretty close to that of a PSP, I’m fairly impressed with this new console. I’ll test it when I receive it, and of course I will write a review for you all to read here

Now of course, you are wondering how much this beauty cost me. Including a protection case (that was actually meant for portable hard drives, but the Dingoo fits just right in there), a flat to round power plug converter (it comes with a flat plug), and a MicroSD to MiniSD converter (since MiniSD cards are very expensive, and MicroSD is a lot cheaper), our grand total is a whopping €61,41.

Now that’s cheap, isn’t it?