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:
image
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.
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:
  • 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?
I was a little pessimistic myself about the Dingoo A320’s future when I wrote this post in March, but so much has happened in the last 2 months to change my mind.  Bottom line: the Dingoo is here, it’s real, and I say now its got at least as good a chance as Rocky did in the first movie.
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:
waiting_for_gemei2

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

Comments

  1. 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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It'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.

    Looks interesting though, but way to early to tell if this is even close to production. Anyway, widescreen doesn't do much for retro gaming. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah it's not even been confirmed yet so for now i'd stick with the dingoo or gemei

    ReplyDelete
  5. well, i'm currently in china, so i'll take a look at this and let people know more details.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Anonymous - please let us know if you find anything out.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As 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.

    Personally, 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.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 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

    ReplyDelete
  9. Still no news about this Gemei A380 ?
    When will it be released ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. 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.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree. But it may not be $10 less. and we don't know if what we have is we have is the full specs

    ReplyDelete
  12. this is a good post here. Love the Waiting for Godot poster idea. Very cleaver.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You mean "clever"?

    ReplyDelete
  14. You're a b****, Anonymous.

    ReplyDelete
  15. No, you idiot. He MEANT to say, "cleaver"!

    ReplyDelete
  16. here'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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dingoo A380 Review

Mancala for Dingux released (Mandingoo was released in 1975)

Idiot’s Guide to installing Dingux using Windows released

An interview with the creator of the Tauon PC-1, Volodymyr Mishin

How to show all your 17,083 c64 games from the c64 romset (archive.org) on the C64 Mini or C64 Maxi loader

The Dingoo-Scene JXD S7800B (Rockchip 3188 SoC) Android Gaming Console Review

Tauon PC-1 review

Dingoo representative at a320.freeforums.org !