Author Topic: Could the A320 be manufactured again?  (Read 3646 times)

sammyfox (OP)

  • Posts: 10
Could the A320 be manufactured again?
« on: July 25, 2017, 09:22:32 pm »
I'm genuinely curious about this. If Dingoo Technology could get the schematics and whatever else and make clone A320s then what would stop say, a bunch of guys pooling money and getting them built and sold again?

I have no idea how manufacturing works and how the actual stuff needed to get those things build like schematics and whatnot would be done, that's kinda why I'm asking here because I assume at least some of you have a better idea of the difficulties involved in this.

cronot

  • Posts: 48
Re: Could the A320 be manufactured again?
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2017, 04:21:37 pm »
Quote
If Dingoo Technology could get the schematics and whatever else and make clone A320s

They have. It's called the A330. The hardware is pretty much the same, except it has a wifi transceiver for a (proprietary) external controller and double the RAM of the A320. The case though, has build quality problems, specifically in the buttons - at least that was my experience with the couple units I got my hands into. It too, however, has stopped manufacturing at this point, although it's still a bit easier to find than even used A320 units.

So I guess what you mean is some third-party getting the schematics and rolling a new clone, in which case, it has also already happened - it's called the GCW Zero, which used an upgraded hardware (i.e., same hardware "family" if it makes sense, which allowed a lot of software reuse from the Dingoos). I'm not sure how it is nowadays, but it too was plagued by build quality, and also mainly short supply issues. Looking at their site, it looks like they have it on stock again, but I can't say if they sorted out the build quality issues - I guess you'd have to ask on the GCW forums for that.

Thing is, though, I think the time for portable emulation devices with specialized hardware AND software is over, and the GCW will just live on for as long as there is developer interest. It's much cheaper (from a business point of view) to make do with "off the shelf" hardware running Android, which is why that's mostly all you see these days.

sammyfox (OP)

  • Posts: 10
Re: Could the A320 be manufactured again?
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2017, 11:17:45 pm »
Quote
If Dingoo Technology could get the schematics and whatever else and make clone A320s

They have. It's called the A330. The hardware is pretty much the same, except it has a wifi transceiver for a (proprietary) external controller and double the RAM of the A320. The case though, has build quality problems, specifically in the buttons - at least that was my experience with the couple units I got my hands into. It too, however, has stopped manufacturing at this point, although it's still a bit easier to find than even used A320 units.

So I guess what you mean is some third-party getting the schematics and rolling a new clone, in which case, it has also already happened - it's called the GCW Zero, which used an upgraded hardware (i.e., same hardware "family" if it makes sense, which allowed a lot of software reuse from the Dingoos). I'm not sure how it is nowadays, but it too was plagued by build quality, and also mainly short supply issues. Looking at their site, it looks like they have it on stock again, but I can't say if they sorted out the build quality issues - I guess you'd have to ask on the GCW forums for that.

Thing is, though, I think the time for portable emulation devices with specialized hardware AND software is over, and the GCW will just live on for as long as there is developer interest. It's much cheaper (from a business point of view) to make do with "off the shelf" hardware running Android, which is why that's mostly all you see these days.

I do mean the A320 itself, not any clones. As for android, the big problem is that android is too bloated and kinda sucks for emulation. The emulators themselves are more or less crappy and the OS really bogs down performance unless you have one of the fancy phones that cost way too much.

I had a Nokia N95 from 2007, I had the model with the floating point unit (N95 NAM) and I could play emulated games better on it than I could on the Samsung Galaxy S I got in 2011. In fact, I could plug my N95 to my TV, pair my wiimote + classic controller pro to it, and then play quake 3 at really great frame rates. It took me ages before I could an android phone that didn't flip its stuff the moment I tried to play Quake 3 on it.

So I'd rather stick to the a320 and such. It's not very powerful but it does what I need it to do very well. It's just a shame that they're becoming so rare.

HercTNT

  • Posts: 700
Re: Could the A320 be manufactured again?
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2017, 08:42:57 pm »
You need to stay away from bloated phones then. I have a $20 generic alcatel cell phone matched up with an ipega bluetooth gamepad and it runs everything I throw at it fine. I believe the phone is an alcatel pixi 3 and i matched it up with an ipega 9023. You can't get an a320 anywhere near that cheap and the setup will do waaaaaaaay more. Don't get me wrong. i love my a320. wish they would make them new and improve development on them. It's not likely to happen.

 

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