Dingoonity.org

As the A330 is selling now for some time, it is now time to move from rumour mill to here.
I try to sum up what we know about the A330.

Reviews:
http://boards.dingoonity.org/dingoo-hardware-general/review-the-dingoo-a330/
http://wejp.k.vu/dingoo-a330/dingoo-a330-review
http://gbatemp.net/t230291-dingoo-a330-review

So let us start:

* What are the changes between A320 and A330
The A330 is very similar to the A320, main changes are:
- better LCD
- new housing (PSPish, but much smaller)
- 64 MB RAM (currently not used by hacked A320 Firmware, Dingux support for 64MB in the works)
- better shoulderbuttons
- proprietary wireless controller (analog sticks are mapped in HW to the dpad, and XYAB)

* Is it compatible to the A320
Yes ... it is compatible to the HK a320. This means all applications, sim files and dingux work on it flawlessly. Some old native apps need to be patched because of a new CPU used in the A330 and newer A320s. See http://dingoo-scene.blogspot.com/2010/03/fix-for-hk-dingoos-that-wont-play.html

* Which firmware is installed
That is the strange part. It comes with a320 FW 1.20 (dated september 2009). The theme and background have been changed. There were rumours that a new A330 FW is on the way .... but we have seen no results of that (yet??).

* Are the A330s fake??
No. They are manufactured by dingoo technology.
There is a second company (dingoo digital). Both companies are selling the A320, DT is selling also the A330. Background between those 2 companies is not yet clear. (rumours say that most employees of DD left it to form DT - unconfirmed)

* Does the A330 have a better/faster CPU
NO - they both use the exact same CPU. It is also clocked to 336MHz (as the A320)

* Is the additional RAM utilized?
NO(t yet??)
The native emulators are identical to the A320 version. They do not take advantage of the added RAM.
An update to the firmware and emulators could change that, but I have not seen any signs that it will come.
Dingux currently also does not support the added memory, but it is actively worked on, and will soon support the doubled RAM.

* How does the wireless controller work?
It uses a proprietary protocol to send keypresses to the A330.

* I have seen analog sticks on it - COOL
Sorry ... those are not functional. They are mapped to the DIGITAL dpad, and the second stick to ABXY. Also the controller has L1, L2 and R1, R2 - those are mapped to the shoulderbuttons L and R.
So to sum it up - the wireless controller has the same buttons as the A330. It has some additional buttons that are hardcoded to existing buttons.

* Is it possible to use 2 wireless controllers with one A330?
short answer: NO
long answer: maybe (with FW update) - I personally very much doubt it

* can the wireless functionality be used to connect 2 A330s for multiplayer?
NO

* can the wireless controller used together with the A330 for 2player?
NO

* does the wireless controller work in dingux?
YES - as it is hardcoded in HW it works. This also means that it cannot be changed in SW!

* Is multiplayer possible between the A330 (player 1) and the wireless controller (player2)?
NO

* Does the hacked universal unbricking tool work?
YES

* Anything changed on the buttons?
The a/b/x/y buttons are a bit tight and not springy enough.

* How does the placement of the speakers affect the sound?
The speakers moved from the bottom to the back. The speaker quality is the same, but because of the placement you have to turn them louder to have the same sound level. Also you block some of the sound with your fingers when holding the unit.

* I have heared of pixelation issues on the official Neo Geo Emulator
Yes ... the HK A320 has those pixelation issues, and as the HW is near identical to the A330, it also suffers from this problem.
There is no known relief for native OS. You can use the dingux emulator as a workaround.


I personally do not have an A330 ... so if you have additions/corrections/whatever please speak up.
If you have contact to dingoo tech. and can provide future features/Roadmaps/additional info please post them.

what about unbricking the a330, i assume the community hacked universal unbricking tool will work?

99% certain it will, because it uses virtually the EXACT same firmware as the A320, only with minor theme changes.

The A330 is very similar to the A320, main changes are:
- better LCD
- new housing (PSPish, but much smaller)
- 64 MB RAM (currently not used by hacked A320 Firmware, Dingux support for 64MB in the works)
- better shoulderbuttons
- proprietary wireless controller (analog sticks are mapped in HW to the dpad, and XYAB)

Is the LCD 100% confirmed to be better? Better in what way(s) -- Better viewing angles? Better color contrast? For all I know, it's still using a cellular phone screen positioned horizontally. Can someone post a side-by-side comparison shot that shows the A330 has better viewing angles than the A320?

Also, the shoulder buttons sure look better, but is it 100% confirmed that they actually perform better? I last thing I remember reading is that the A330 has sticky/mushy buttons, which is actually worse than the controls on the A320. If anyone has a verified final production model, can you please confirm that ALL the buttons are equivalent to or better than the buttons on the A320?

Outstanding questions regarding sound quality:

1. How does the speaker sound compared to the A320 when not using headphones? I would assume worse than the A320 considering the new location, which would be muffled by your palm.

2. How does the audio sound compared to the A320 when using headphones?

Both negative and positive changes should be listed under "Changes".

So I'm paying double for an A330 for what?

Not quite "double": the A330 is $109 and the A320 is $85 at ShopTemp.com. But yeah, I agree that at the moment it doesn't appear to be a worthwhile upgrade. I'll wait for omgmog's Letcool review and the apparently soon-to-be-released Gemei A330.

@ricsi
This topic is still speculative as you don't own an A330 -- I realise you're trying to be helpful, but I forsee this topic going downhill pretty fast, and if it does that it will be moved into the rumor mill.

CongoZombie, qbertaddict, darfgarf, and other developers all have their A330s now, so it's only a matter of time until more reviews come out -- these people have lives/jobs outside of the community, believe it or not.

@10basetom
- The LCD is physically a different LCD screen module. The image is more vibrant.
- the shoulder buttons are much better to press than the ones on the A320, and the new dpad/select/start are really good, however the a/b/x/y buttons are a bit tight and not springy enough.
- side by side, the A320 and A330 sounded identical to me -- both playing Super Mario World 3 for SNES, but I guess some more tests should be done. The speaker hardware itself looks identical, just placed in a new location (on the back oposed to the bottom).

@Frank_fjs
As mentioned by 10basetom, it's not double, it's fractionally more. I think people are looking at the "upgrade" from A320 to A330 too much like a regular portable, but you need to realise the Dingoo * is unlike your usual DS or PSP or iPod. The fact that the A320 was so good was by chance -- it could have easily been one of the hundreds of badly made, low-budget "MP5" players from China, but instead it did well, and has now got this huge community behind it.

The upgrade from A320 to A330 could be looked upon more like going DS Phat to DS Lite, no features changes as such, just case aesthetics.

At the end of the day, as I said in a reply to my review, if you've already got an A320 there is no real reason to upgrade to an A330. If you're looking to buy an A320, buy an A330 -- it'll be better in the long run, as soon as we have a firmware that utilises the new hardware fully.

@blastyrant
Yep the unbricker/firmware flasher tool works, as to be expected -- this is still ingenic/chinachip hardware. I've infact flashed the A320 firmware to my A330 twice already, using the IL9331 boot config.

Don't let this sway your opinion of "oh it's a hacked a320 then!" though, because it's still early days and the "proper" A330 firmware might just not be ready yet.

if you've already got an A320 there is no real reason to upgrade to an A330. If you're looking to buy an A320, buy an A330

Well said, couldn't agree more.

i opened mine up and cut the little tabs off the side of the buttons, works much better, they can just rotate freely XD (and i don't really recommend doing it, or at elast not responsible if you do), seems to be the only main problem, the rest of it is gorgeous

Ouch disappointing to hear about the xyba buttons and the LCD screen artifacts pressing the left hand side. The latter is a problem on many A320 so I hope it hasnt migrated to the A330, and even become worse  . But the xyva buttons sounds like it should be easy enough for Dingoo Tech to fix.

@Ricsi: +karma for you. Thank you for this round up. My personal round up:

• I don't use the L/R buttons very much so I don't care for better ones.
• I use the XYAB buttons very much (of course!!). Ye 'ol A320 appears to have better ones.
  
• The analog sticks are dongles as are the two extra L/R buttons on the wirel. controller.
• No upgraded TV out (though the chip is reported to support it...)
• To me the old screen was nice enough.
• No "resume after shutdown" function added in the MP3 player.
• No 2 player possible as of yet, and it requires your seller to offer a loose extra controller if so. => that's why the Letcool Gamestation is the apple of my eye right now. :D (if it only had a port of Dingux.... it'd be my holy grail. Hi hi.)
  
• It's more expensive (and I can't order it yet via Dealextreme: so no free shipping either for me).

So I wouldn't buy it. But its a very nice try.