Ok, my Dingoo arrived yesterday and I've had a while to tinker around with it.
First off, the design is great. This is exactly the kind of size I want this kind of device to be; small enough to fit into your bag or pocket but large enough to not give you hand cramps. In that respect it's a big improvement over the GP2X, which was a little on the chunky side.
The d-pad is also a massive improvement, although it's not 100% perfect. It's basically an exact copy of the DS lite pad (someone has even compared the two and they're exactly the same size) but it lies a little lower in the casing, which sometimes makes diagonals hard. Still, if you're not playing fighting games then it's great.
Sadly, emulation is still at a very early stage. I know people have been trying to put a positive spin on the performance of the bundled emulators but when placed alongside stuff on the PSP/GP2X (which - lest we forget - have had months and months of development time expended on them) they're shockingly poor. Even the NES emulator - which is the best of the bunch when it comes to speed - showcases some unsightly graphical errors.
The fault isn't with the hardware - it's got the power - but rather in the way in which the emulators have been ported to the device. It looks as if Dingoo's coders have just ported the existing emulators and not done a great deal to optimise them.
I've had a word with Craig (who runs GBAX.com, the company that is distributing the device in the UK - as well as the Pandora and Wiz!) and he says he's trying to drum up support within the homebrew community to get people working on fixing these emulation issues. He's going to establish a Dingoo site that will give people the tools they need to get things moving, as well as providing a platform for people to post the latest emulators. Just as was the case with the GP2X, this is going to take time, but the potential is there.
Sadly it looks as if this is the Dingoo's only hope as the company behind the machine has basically said its not producing any more emulators.
First off, the design is great. This is exactly the kind of size I want this kind of device to be; small enough to fit into your bag or pocket but large enough to not give you hand cramps. In that respect it's a big improvement over the GP2X, which was a little on the chunky side.
The d-pad is also a massive improvement, although it's not 100% perfect. It's basically an exact copy of the DS lite pad (someone has even compared the two and they're exactly the same size) but it lies a little lower in the casing, which sometimes makes diagonals hard. Still, if you're not playing fighting games then it's great.
Sadly, emulation is still at a very early stage. I know people have been trying to put a positive spin on the performance of the bundled emulators but when placed alongside stuff on the PSP/GP2X (which - lest we forget - have had months and months of development time expended on them) they're shockingly poor. Even the NES emulator - which is the best of the bunch when it comes to speed - showcases some unsightly graphical errors.
The fault isn't with the hardware - it's got the power - but rather in the way in which the emulators have been ported to the device. It looks as if Dingoo's coders have just ported the existing emulators and not done a great deal to optimise them.
I've had a word with Craig (who runs GBAX.com, the company that is distributing the device in the UK - as well as the Pandora and Wiz!) and he says he's trying to drum up support within the homebrew community to get people working on fixing these emulation issues. He's going to establish a Dingoo site that will give people the tools they need to get things moving, as well as providing a platform for people to post the latest emulators. Just as was the case with the GP2X, this is going to take time, but the potential is there.
Sadly it looks as if this is the Dingoo's only hope as the company behind the machine has basically said its not producing any more emulators.
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