WIMM One open the doors to its Micro App Store

"> 0by Chris Stewart
tagged android watch, app store, micro, smart watch, wimm

“What exactly is a Micro App Store” I hear you cry. Well it’s pretty much as it sounds, an app store that brings you micro apps for your micro device, specifically the WIMM One Android watch. The WIMM One boasts a 667MHz ARM processor with 256MB RAM and 2GB internal storage. There’s bluetooth and wireless connectivity as well as an accelerometer, GPS module and compass on board. The micro device weighs only 22g and measures in at 32 x 36 x 12.5mm, despite the tiny dimensions it manages to cram in a 1.41″, 160 x 160 capacitive touch screen.

Impressive tech-specs are simply the first step to success, without top notch developer support the specifications may well count for nothing and that’s where the Micro App Store comes into play. Similar to the Android Market website, WIMM’s store pushes the selected app from the web directly to the WIMM One watch. At the time of posting there are around 25 applications ready for download with the promise of many more to come. There’s no infrastructure for paid apps just yet so perhaps it’s the ideal to time to fill your boots with some free apps.

It seems that the mobile device size wars go round in cycles. In the days of the Nokia 8310 it was all about being the smallest, then the original RAZR arrived on the scene and thin was in, now with the 4.65″ Galaxy Nexus and 5.3″ Galaxy Note hitting the headlines, the current trend is all about being the biggest. Is 2012 set to be the year when we arrive full circle as we see the rise of the tiny, smart watches? We had a false dawn in 2010 with the, innovative but flawed, Sony Ericsson LiveView but this year is set to be more promising with Motorola’s MotoActv, the stylish i’mWatch and Sony’s forthcoming SmartWatch all hitting the market.

Check out the link for full details on the WIMM Micro App Store and be sure to let us know if you’re planning on picking up a smart watch this year in the comments below.

 

source : WIMM LABS

» See more articles by Chris Stewart

Categorized as Android Development, Android Manufacturers, Android News, Android Updates

Comments Related PostsWIMM wants to make your dreams of an Android wrist watch a realityHTC Hiring To Build Its Own App StoreAndroid-related magazine app rejected from Apple App StoreOpen source licensing a large factor in market and app store appsAmazon App Store a Reality claims WSJ

Get the latest Android news updates sent directly to your inbox!

Recent CommentsRe: One-Click Root for Stock Gingerbread (Droid X, Droid 3, Droid X2, Cliq and Cliq 2) [From the Forums]i have the droid x with the new 4.5.602 update from the other day i tried to root my droidx it did part 1 of 3 sucesfully  but parts 2 of 3 and 3 of 3 failed commands not allowed but got message at end said it should be rooted succesfully its not rooted what else needs to be done […] mmaccheyne6377Re: DROID X soak test for latest update (4.5.621.MB810.Verizon.en.US) has begunWhat exactly did you have to do to get back root? […] Em001Re: Landmark Victory: Judge Rules In Favor Of AT&T Customer For “Unlimited Data” ThrottlingEpic. AT&T and Comcast have spent years becoming more and more anti-consumer. $850 is nothing to them, but the principle is solid. […] @androidklopRe: Sprint Samsung Intercept ReviewThis phone is HORRIBLE! I mean, I am lucky to have a cellular device, but I would prefer one that doesn't randomly turn off, not turn back on, constantly freeze, place incorrect calls, drop calls, not let you answer calls no matter how many times you press the accept button. The only good thing about it is that it has a camera, that often doesn't w […] Betty White122Re: [Update] Chrome for Android Receives Update, Custom ROM Users BewareThe update didn't break Team Passion's Euphoria ICS ROM. […] AdamEmanoff Android ForumsHTC Inspire 4G (Desire HD) APN InformationHello - I'm new here, and new to android tooNike+ FuelBand UnboxingNew Mouse! Razer OrochiHTC Inspire 4g AT&T Root[Vid] Demo of Ubuntu running on AndroidHi Guyz Admin Must CheckChrome BETA only for ICSWhat Android tablet do you have?Anyone use those cheaper tablets?

© 2012 TalkAndroid.com  |  Advertise  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy  |  Neoseeker  |  Overclockers Club

In Depth: The BBC Micro at 30: a very British institution

The BBC Micro at 30

The clickety-clack keys, The Cub touchscreen monitor. The terrible beige chassis. That row of bright orange function keys at the top of the keyboard.

The BBC Micro turns 30 years old today. It was a pionnering machine - not least because you use a descendent of it every single day - your mobile phone.

So how did the BBC come to be involved in such a project? And how did the BBC Micro come to have such influence over a generation?

Let's rewind slightly. In 1975, a now defunct company called MOS Technology introduced the 6502 processor.

Technically, it was nothing special – an 8-bit chip designed by the team responsible for the Motorola 6800, and similar to it in many ways. Where it broke new ground was in its cost. With a launch price of $25, considerably less than equivalent chips from Intel and Motorola, it started a price war.

This then fuelled the home computer revolution. The 6502 first made its appearance in machines such as the Apple I and II, the Commodore PET, and the Atari.

Here in the UK, it first made its presence felt in the BBC Micro.

Introduced by Acorn in 1981 and priced at £235, the BBC-backed machine didn't have the same super-low pricing or mass market appeal as the likes of the Sinclair ZX81, but it had one important thing going for it.

Due to being featured in the BBC's Computer Literacy Project, it became established as the de facto educational computer and sold to schools by the millions. As a result, a whole generation was introduced to computing, and it was all down to the 6502.

PIONEERING: The logo of the BBCs Computer Literacy Project

But the story of the machine's makers starts a lot earlier. In 1966, Sinclair Radionics hired a man called Chris Curry, who worked for Clive Sinclair for the next 13 years.

When Curry became interested in a prototype computer from National Semiconductor, Sinclair wasn't keen – so Curry decided to set up his own computing firm, Acorn Computers, in Cambridge.

The BBC Micro and Acorn Electron went head-to-head with Sinclair's Spectrum and ill-fated QL.

FOUNDERS: Acorn's Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry [Image credit: stairwaytohell.com]

Sinclair was the brains behind the slimline pocket calculator and was also responsible hooking an entire generation on computer games. But he lost out to Acorn over the BBC deal - something which created bad blood between the companies and their founders throughout the 1980s.

This rivalry was explored by the BBC in 2009, when the corporation commissioned a comedy-drama about the saga. Called Micro Men, with Alexander Armstrong as Sinclair and Martin Freeman as Curry, it's definitely worth a watch on YouTube.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y8IkcUGV9w

After the BBC Micro, Acorn took a bold approach: rather than basing its new computer on established processors from Intel or Motorola, it designed its own 32-bit processor called ARM (originally standing for Acorn RISC Machine, but now Advanced RISC Machine).

By adopting the Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) approach at a time when most of the other semiconductor manufacturers were employing the Complicated Instruction Set (CISC) approach (today's x86 chips employ elements of both philosophies), the ARM chip was well ahead of the competition.

Despite initially having just an 8MHz clock, the first ARM-based systems were much faster than contemporary machines with Intel 80386s or Motorola 68020s, even though the latter were clocked at twice the speed.

"From its beginning the ARM CPU was small and efficient. It was clearly a CPU ahead of its time," explains Tony Massimini, chief of technology at Semico Research. "It took a lot of hard work and dedication to find the right home for ARM technology."

ARM1 chips were used as part of a BBC Micro-based development kit for the 32-bit Acorn Archimedes, the second-generation of school computers after the original Micro.

Then came the Archimedes, which used a new OS called RISC OS and, like modern-day Windows and Mac OS, used the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers) system.

ACORN A5000: 1991's A5000 was ahead of its time, but Acorn was already losing to Windows PCs

However, while it was technically superior, the growing momentum of the PC clones proved its downfall, and the last Archimedes (then branded as just Acorn) was launched in 1994 - called the Risc PC.

It followed a long line of Archimedes and Acorn machines including the A5000 and the A3000 - the machine that succeeded the BBC Micro in many British schools.

Acorn's legacy

That wasn't the end of the ARM processor, though – far from it. Acorn didn't just make home computers: it also developed the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor and spun off ARM to market RISC chips to other firms.

Now a PLC, ARM was formed in 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines, ARM was a joint partnership between Acorn Computer, VLSI and some other company called Apple.

The chips later found their way into the cult Apple Newton, which used the ARM 610 processor.

By the turn of the century ARM dominated the portable processor market, and in recent years its chips have powered the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, many PDAs and smartphones, the iPod Touch, iPad and the iPhone.

Acorn might be long gone, but it lives on in the form of its former subsidiary ARM Holdings. More importantly, so does its pioneering processor.

ARM POWER: 95 per cent of mobile phones worldwide use ARM processor cores

According to ARM, there are over 15 billion ARM-based chips in existence, powering over 95 per cent of mobile phones and over 25 per cent of all electronic devices.

All this is down to that innovative RISC design, as simplicity means low power consumption.

None of the four billion RISC cores made every year are actually manufactured by ARM. Instead, ARM licenses its intellectual property to other companies like Nvidia, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung and more, who then incorporate it into their own designs.

Buying Guide: If you liked Micro Machines, you'll love these iOS games

Top-down iOS racing games

Although Micro Machines is our chosen jumping-off point this month, the origins of the top-down racing genre are much, much older than Codemasters' classic, even pre-dating microprocessor arcade games.

As far back as 1974, Atari worked on arcade cabinets such as Gran Trak 10, which pitted gamers against each other as they wrestled primitive glowing cars around 2D tracks, the edges of which were simply dozens of white dots. Back then, this was like having the most exciting race ever beamed directly into your eyes; today, it looks about as advanced as a teasmade.

A decade later, Atari decided to dust off and remake some of its old properties, giving rise to the masterful Super Sprint, which was a top-down racer that eschewed realism and gave gamers head-to-head thrills.

When Micro Machines arrived a few years later, Codemasters infused an extra dollop of fun into the top-down racing genre. The game featured tiny toy vehicles in fierce rivalries, competing on makeshift tracks comprising in part baths, tables and bits of garden; and it proved that a link with real-life racing wasn't really necessary to make a great racing videogame.

As long as you could drive fast and get an adrenaline rush by shaving past an opponent only fractions of a second from the finishing line, it didn't really matter if you were supposed to be a Formula 1 driver speeding to glory at the Monaco Grand Prix or a tiny piece of plastic zooming along on a breakfast table. The environments didn't detract from the racing; in fact, they even made it more enjoyable, ensuring the game stood out among its gravel-circuit-obsessed contemporaries.

Neither Super Sprint nor Micro Machines has made it to iOS, but there are a number of topdown racing games for your devices that provide similar arcade-oriented thrills – and usually for a fraction of the cost that the aforementioned titles cost on home consoles two decades ago.

Nano and Doodle

If you're looking for something pretty close to Micro Machines, with its tiny cars and oddball environments, Nano Rally (69p, iPhone; 69p, iPad) is the closest option from a visual standpoint. It has little vehicles racing in gardens, on tables and in a shed, although we think the game's a bit clunky and the cars feel too sticky – a far cry from Micro Machines and its rather looser handling.

Doodle Kart (69p, iPhone) is quite a bit better, offering a very similar top-down view to Nano Rally, but in 'doodle' style (the graphics look like someone sketched them with a pen) and with some basic weapons that you can collect and fire at your rivals.

PAPER RACER: Mum's going to be annoyed you've driven through that paint in Paper Racer. This is why you can't have nice things

The driving's still a bit sluggish and awkward, though, and so the first game we truly recommend in this area is Paper Racer (69p, iPhone). Superficially, Paper Racer resembles a mix of Nano Rally and Doodle Kart, in that you race little paper vehicles on tables, and you can even photograph your own sketch and load it into the game.

But where Paper Rally speeds past its rivals is in the way the cars handle: the controls and physics in the game are both just about perfect, and the races are fast. It's also flexible; not only can you drift, but the environments are interactive – in Nano Rally and Doodle Kart, you stop dead when you collide with something, but in Paper Racer, you can hit a bolt and send it flying, or drive through paint splats to make tiny tyre trails across the screen.

No other iOS games come quite so close to matching Paper Racer for Micro Machines-style thrills, but two further games are worth a look.

PLAY ROOM RACING: This is one of the closest games to the Micro Machines of old

Playroom Racer HD (£1.49, Universal) has you racing inside children's bedrooms, in a 3D world that could be right out of the PlayStation version of Micro Machines. The handling is a bit floaty, and it's all too easy for your car to get overturned, after which it takes some time to right itself.

But the tracks look good (at least on the iPad – on smaller iOS devices, the visuals aren't quite so appealing) and the various difficulty levels add plenty of lasting challenge, even if the unlock mechanism requires a bit too much grinding.

Touch or Danger?

Touch Racing (£2.49, Universal) is another game that works much better on the iPad. It has you racing remote-control cars around increasingly tough tracks that appear to have been designed by sadists; some of them even include the kind of half-pipes that would make a skateboarder from the '80s yell 'Gnarly, dude!', before blinding you with his fluorescent socks.

The controls are a bit strange – you just use one finger to define speed and direction – but they work well on the iPad. On the iPhone and iPod, everything's far more fiddly and it's too easy to obscure the track with your finger, making collisions far more probable.

DANGER SPOTS: We're not sure Danger Derby's skulls on the track put racers in the right frame of mind

For more racing thrills, you must leave behind the world of toys and head back towards full-size vehicles. However, games like VS Racing (69p, iPhone) and Danger Derby (£2.99, iPad) retain the old-school arcade-racing feel of Micro Machines.

VS Racing is the simplest of the pair, with dinky cars racing around six varied tracks. Its rubber-banding – which is designed to make sure races are always competitive – is annoying, and makes winning a bit of a lottery.

Danger Derby has similarly tiny cars, but its tracks are purely single-screen and they often include giant crushers and deadly drops. Even in its desire to make motorsport more exciting, we suspect Formula 1's FIA would heed the warnings of health and safety on these tracks. On the iPad, Danger Derby's a blast, even if the virtual controls appear to be designed for aesthetics over comfort.

Finally, a pair of Tap!-reviewed, somewhat-3D titles. Death Rally (£1.99, Universal) didn't entirely set our world on fire first-time round, but it has plenty of fans; and while the game's visuals are grimy and post-apocalyptic, the arcade handling, weapons and regular race-leader changes place it spiritually in the same space as Micro Machines.

STILL THE BEST: Reckless Racing is still the best racing game on iOS, with varied environments and pretty graphics

Mind you, for larger-than-life, top-down arcade racing of the finest calibre, we argued that Reckless Racing (69p, iPhone; £2.99, iPad) was a must-buy six months ago, and that hasn't changed. The game's mix of beautiful graphics, varied environments (dirt tracks, cliff-tops, frozen lakes) and superb handling makes it the finest topdown racer on iOS, and also a worthy successor to the classics of the genre. 2D sprites it ain't, but the spirit's the same.

]]>

Review: Dingoo A320 Micro Game Station

Launching in China earlier this year, the Dingoo Digital A320 is an attempt to "break the monopoly of foreign brands into the game market." Dubbed 'China's PSP', units are now slowly making their way to the West, and gamers in the UK can now pick up a Dingoo for under £70.

Destined to remain an underground console, the Dingoo A320 is building momentum thanks to its bargain price, out-of-the-box support for classic emulators and a vibrant development scene – thanks to its open source nature.

Enthusiast developers have already coded a wealth of applications, with attentions now focused on Dingux – Linux port, which opens up the console to further possibilities.

What's in the box?

Available in a choice of black or white, the Dingoo A320 packs in 4GB of built-in memory, with a miniSD slot for a further 4GB.

STORAGE: the Dingoo takes MiniSD cards - not a popular format on these shores but cards are nevertheless available

The console also plays your digital video files, a contains a digital recorder, FM radio and TV-out connection.

And if you can stop chuckling at Dingoo's pidgin English packaging, you'll find a charger, mini USB, headphones and composite TV lead inside – accessories that other games companies charge extra for.

Dingoo has bundled several of its own Chinese-developed games on the A320, but the console comes alive by shamelessly ripping off the foreign games they claim to fight against.

Through its variety of built-in emulators, the Dingoo plays over 8000 classic games originally played on Nintendo and Sega consoles such NES, SNES, MegaDrive, as well as arcade platforms.

A dream console for fans of classic gaming formats, the A320 is a nightmare for legal teams across the globe.

The Dingoo is not supplied with any of the classic games it plays for good reason – the rom images themselves are illegal. Whilst you can easily find these games in darker corners of the internet, you run the risk of being saddled with a massive fine if you download them.

Is that a Dingoo in your pocket?

It was on long journeys that the Dingoo made its mark as a credible handheld. Whilst the A320 isn't gifted with the huggable ergonomics of its rivals, it weighs in as the smallest handheld, measuring just 12cm across and 6cm high. The Dingoo happily fits in your pocket.

With its tiny 320x240 QVGA screen, the Dingoo delivers performance close to its quoted seven hours of battery life, even when regularly switching between the console's in-built Aladdin's cave of features.

You look familiar

As far as the interface goes, never before has a console been graced with such a shameless Sony XMB rip-off. Yep, it's very very similar the the XrossMediaBar interface found on the Sony PS3, PSP and new Sony Bravia TVs.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, as the A320's front-end allows you to easily find the function you want to use within seconds of switching the console on – despite Dingoo's amusing use of English.

As a sub £70 MP4 player, the Dingoo punches way above its weight, hiding some delights behind occasionally impenetrable instructions.

Spend time with the complex features of the A320 and your patience to be rewarded. The console makes light work of DVD rips and other commonly-used online video formats, with the bundled TV-out cable making it a viable source of entertainment on the road, and delivered performance comparable to any budget media player on a hotel TV.

WORM: one of the less-than-inspiring legal games that comes with the Dingoo

On the audio side, you'll find some surprises, with APE and FLAC lossless audio codecs rubbing shoulders with the usual formats. Dingoo also promises to support additional codecs with forthcoming firmware updates.

Gaming

Dingoo's wish to make a viable Chinese gaming format are questionable, as the bundled software is risible. Graphically uninspiring racing title Ultimate Drift would reduce any gamer into tears of laughter as their rally car leaps to 1000mph. Michael Schumacher would be proud of the car's ability to perform a full 360 degree spin without loss of speed.

With the A320's stated 3D power, the first-party software seldom raises the console beyond JAVA mobile standard. Top-rated Chinese games won't be high of the list of gamers in the western world who purchase the Dingoo for its emulation and open-source nature.

Legalities already discussed, the A320 emulates a wealth of long-dead gaming hardware, including Nintendo's NES, Gameboy Advance and Super Nintendo, as well as Sega's Megadrive. Surprisingly, you'll also get support for several arcade formats, the Neo Geo and Capcom's CPS1 and CPS2, home to legendary coin-ops like Final Fight, Metal Slug and Street Fighter II.

The A320 ships with first generation versions of their in-house coded emulators, and this shows. Whilst gamers report NES and Gameboy Advance emulation as perfect, mixed results are found on other platforms. Dingoo promises further updates to the emulation software.

Open Sesame

If a commendable set of built-in emulators and Dingoo's promise of continued support and improvements doesn't tempt you, the fast-growing Dingoo community should.

The budget alternative to other open-source consoles like Korea's GP2X Wiz, Dingoo development has been opened up with huge possibilities, with a vibrant online community already investigating the quirky abilities of its silicon – successfully porting popular emulators and applications.

Development of the dual booting Dingux allows the A320 to switch between its stock firmware and a fully-fledged version of Linux. Early days of development have already seen a Dingux version of MAME4ALL running on the console. Offering support for over 2000 arcade roms it silences many of the complaints raised by users over the console's built-in emulators.

We liked

• Long battery life
• Loads of video and audio formats supported
• Vibrant development scene – Linux port available
• Emulation out-of-the-box
• TV-out – for gaming and media on the move
• Value packed – all accessories included

Dislikes

• Square-edges means discomfort whilst gaming
• Varying results from built-in emulators
• Appalling 'first party' support
• Quirky firmware

A flawed gem, the A320 offers a tantalising glimpse into the moment that Chinese consoles began to grow up.

Whilst the Dingoo keeps one paw dipped in China's murky past of copyright melting rip-offs, it packs an intriguing level of features into a reasonably priced pocket-sized console.

The Dingoo is not for casual gamers though – mainstream consoles never launch with the quirks that blight the A320.

In a routine session with the console it is common to see a user lurch from love to undying hatred and back in a single breath.

That said, the Dingoo impresses on many levels and the comments of enthusiast developers point to a very exciting future, thousands of miles away from its homeland.