The following is a post by "Dantheman1119", from the dingoo unnofficial english support site.
Not trying to throw anyone under the bus, just thought it would make for some interesting reading to share with the remaining Dingoo crowd here. Take a gander:
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Dantheman1119:
Well, Dingoo was never really...big, was it? At least, not to me it wasn't. I'll always suggest it to my friends, but they have no clue what I'm talking about.
Some reasons it's declining (IMO)
1. Price. You can get one as "cheap" as 70, where other sites, it's more around the 100 mark.
2. Emulators. Yes, I know, it has great NES, SNES, GBA, GB and GBC emulators, and a bunch more (I just don't feel like writing them all) but if people can get that on the computer anyway, plus GameCube, N64 and DS, then why bother with the Dingoo?
3. It's rare. The only place I can think that you can get it that is relatively known is ThinkGeek. And it's usually never in stock. They had, at one point, a lot of them, and that (along with Ashens's review of it (look it up if you haven't seen it yet.)) was one of the many reasons why I got one, but since they don't have it...
4. People have no clue what an emulator is. They look at a product description and it says something like, "play all of your favorite classic games with emulation!" then they fall into three types of people: 1. They scratch their head and wonder what emulation is. 2. They "know" that emulation is illegal. and 3. They say, "wow! that's amazing, where can I get one?" A lot of Dingoo-users probably fell into Category 3. A lot of my friends who don't know squat about stuff like this fall into Category 1 and everyone else is 2.
Those are my reasons for Dingoo's declining popularity. I really don't want to to become Super Ultra Mega Rare 64. (wait, what?)
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ME:
I have to agree with you on some of those aspects, but i feel the reason it was never "big", as in part of the popular, videogaming mainstream, is mostly due to it being "illegal" (and all things like that, are basically illegal (c'mon, no one owns 4+gb of game cartridges, at least not enough people to justify the marketing of such devices legally).
Let's face it, we will never see anything near this f-ing cool on store shelves...why? Money, marketing, big profits (and "legalities", China doesn't follow the rules. i like China...
The mainstream is structured on selling to customers a videogaming console (or handheld console in these cases), that they know will generate tons more income through their game sales and third party licenses, per individual game cartridge, card, disc, whatever the medium.
As far as technological knowledge, you're right on that, there are so many people that see clicking and dragging media files as technological wizardry, or "hacking". Yes, it takes some work sometimes on consoles such as the Dingoo A320, but despite that, it's basically just a souped up MP3 player that specializes in retro-videogame emulation. Problem is, most people nowadays don't know how (or are to lazy or uninterested in) to do very much for themselves, sadly, its the way we are brought up in society, for the most part... Nowadays, we have specialists for everything from washing our cars to telling us what's wrong with us when we get "sick", i feel it's a dependancy issue.
I don't mean to come off so much as preaching philosophy, but think about it, only the really smart people nowadys know how to do more than go to work, pay our bills, hygiene, get the kids off to school and then hit the reset button to get ready for another day.
But yeah man, i think the Dingoo family, well the A320 at least, is actualy VERY popular (or was at least) online, as Dingoonity and other Dingoo dedicated sites are proof of. In 2009, THE open-sourced handheld to own was the Dingoo A320, and depending on your hardcore, retro emulation needs, hobbies, interests and emulation standards, it still may be, depending on who you ask.
Like most open-sourced/hacked/flash card enabled systems out there, software development seems to rise, level off and then die off as something(s) new emerge to take the limelight. In this case, it looks like there are so many more than just one or two new kinds of emulating wonders, with the Android devices, smart phones, other open-sourced handhelds, the DS system flashcards, even the PS Vita has been getting some attention. It actually says alot about a chinese handhels like the Dingoo A320, to still be getting ANY attention anymore, in the face of so many adversities.
I will always have one by my side though, and i still troubleshoot, upgrade and re-sell them in my town just for kicks, because let's face it, there's just too much fun you can pack into these little bastards. Haha!
I could write a book on these kinds of subjects, as i find them highly interesting, but i will stop for now...unless someone wants me to write one...
Now THAT, would be a fun little read... "Dingoo A320: The rise, prosperity and decline of the littlest handheld that could..."
