EDA Playground–An Awesome Online Tool

Many times we use the web to find code examples and tutorials. However, often the examples were incomplete. Sometimes they were missing the necessary code to hook the example into a real design. Other times, the code examples had syntax errors.

Sometime we are presented with a working design, with lines stripped out, but with undefined variables and dangling commas left in. Other times the code examples simply did not work on my simulator. All this resulted in endless frustration to us. I knew there had to be a better way, EDA Playground is one.

EDA Playground is a free web application that allows users to edit, simulate (and view waveforms), synthesize, and share their HDL code. Its goal is to accelerate the learning of design and testbench development with easier code sharing and with simpler access to simulators and libraries. EDA Playground is specifically designed for small prototypes and examples (it is not intended to be used for a full-blown FPGA or ASIC design).

EDA Playground gives engineers immediate hands-on exposure to simulating SystemVerilog, Verilog, VHDL, C++/SystemC, and other HDLs. All you need is a web browser. The goal is to accelerate learning of design/testbench development with easier code sharing, and with simpler access to EDA tools and libraries. EDA Playground is specifically designed for small prototypes and examples.

• With a simple click, run your code and see console output in real time. Pick another simulator version and run it again.
• View waves for your simulation using EPWave browser-based wave viewer.
• Save your code snippets. Share your code and simulation results with a web link. Perfect for web forum discussions or emails. Great for asking questions or sharing your knowledge.
• Quickly try something out
  • Try out a SystemVerilog feature before using it on your project.
  • Try out a library that you’re thinking of using.
  • Modify another engineer’s shared code and re-run it.
• Eliminate environment differences. Since the code always executes in the same environment, everyone will see the same result on a subsequent re-run.
• Browse and use a large repository of working code examples and templates.

 

Google To Develop Quantum Processors

Google was one of the early backers of a new approach to quantum computing adopted by a company called D-Wave. The company offers boxes that perform a process called quantum annealing instead of the more typical approach, which involves encoding information in a quantum state of a collection of entangled qubits. Although whatever D-Wave is doing is clearly quantum, it's still not clear that it offers a speedup compared to classical computers.

So rather than keeping all its eggs in D-Wave's basket, Google's "Quantum A.I. Lab" announced that it is starting a collaboration with an academic quantum computing researcher, John Martinis of the University of California-Santa Barbara. Martinis' group focuses on creating fault-tolerant qubits using a solid-state superconducting structure called a Josephson junction. By linking several of these junctions and spreading a single quantum state across them, it's possible to reach fidelities of over 99 percent when it comes to storing the quantum state.

Quantum states tend to be fragile and decay when they interact with their environment, so a lot of labs are working on making qubits that are more robust or have error correcting ability. Josephson junctions are one possible approach to this, but they have the advantage of being on familiar turf for computing companies, since they can be made by standard fabrication techniques (although they still need to be chilled to near absolute zero).

Google made it clear that it's not turning its back on D-Wave; the new work will be done in parallel. As for quantum computing itself, this is interesting news. A quick look at our past coverage makes it clear that there are a number of technologies that appear to be getting close to the point where they could be used to create a multi-qubit machine. Google's decision to push hard on one of these approaches could narrow the field—either by getting Josephson junctions to work or by showing that there are severe limitations to them.

Do You Know Internet Of Things !!!

The Internet of Things (IoT, also Cloud of Things or CoT) refers to the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing like devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. The Internet of Things is a scenario in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and the Internet. The creativity of this new era is boundless, with amazing potential to improve our lives.

Here are the six main attributes that make "things" a part of the Internet Of Things, or IoT:

• Sensors: IoT devices and systems include sensors that track and measure activity in the world. One example is Smartthings' open-and-close sensors that detect whether or not a drawer, window, or door in your home is open or closed.
  
• Connectivity: Internet connectivity is either contained in the item itself, or a connected hub, smartphone, or base station. If it's the latter, then the base station will likely be collecting data from an array of sensor-laden objects, and relaying data to the cloud and back.
  
• Processors: Just like any computing device, IoT devices will contain some computing power "under the hood," if only to be able to parse incoming data and transmit it.
  These characteristics all apply to today's smartphones, of course, but many IoT devices will also need to be equipped with several special features to be truly useful. These will differentiate IoT devices, particularly remote ones, from today's smartphones.
  
• Energy-efficiency: Many devices in the IoT may be difficult, costly, or dangerous to access for charging or battery replacement. One may even think of the Mars Curiosity Rover as an example of such a device. Therefore, they may need to be able to operate for a year or more unattended using a conservative amount of energy or be able to wake up only periodically to relay data.
  
• Cost-effectiveness: Objects that contain sensors may need to be distributed broadly to be useful, as in the case of sensors in food products in supermarkets that would indicate if an item has spoiled. These would need to be relatively inexpensive to purchase and deploy.
  
• Quality and reliability: Some IoT devices will need to operate in harsh environments outdoors and for extended periods of time.
  
• Security: IoT devices may need to relay sensitive or regulated information such as health-related data, so data security will be critical.

Internet Of Things explained by Arlen Nipper.
Arlen Nipper has been designing embedded computer hardware and software for 33 years. Arlen graduated from Oklahoma State University and worked in the oil patch for 10 years learning tons of useful stuff about "how things work" in the real world.

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VHDL Coding Tips For Excellent Design

Here are the Ten Commandments of Excellent Design:

1. All state machine outputs shall always be registered
2. Thou shalt use registers, never latches
3. Thy state machine inputs, including resets, shall be synchronous
4. Beware fast paths lest they bite thine ankles
5. Minimize skew of thine clocks
6. Cross clock domains with the greatest of caution. Synchronize thy sig- nals!
7. Have no dead states in thy state machines
8. Have no logic with unbroken asynchronous feedback lest the fleas of myriad Test Engineers infest thee
9. All decode logic must be crafted carefully—eschew asynchronicity
10. Trust not thy simulator—it may beguile thee when thy design is junk

How to Write Ten-Commandment Code

Conforming to the Ten Commandments is not difficult. In this section you’ll see how to write VHDL (your author doesn’t do Verilog, but the translation is easy) that complies with the rules. Robust design and first-silicon success are the goals!

The philosophy behind Ten-Commandment code is that synthesizers are not to be trusted too much. Most of the code you will see is close to the structural level; some more overtly than others. Most of the code is self-explanatory. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with VHDL. Signal names are also obvious to anyone “skilled in the art.”

How to Create a Flip-Flop

One of the basic primitives that we need to create robust synchronous designs is the D-type flip-flop. Look at the code in Code Sample 1: A D-type Flip Flop

-- VHDL Code for a D-Type Flip-Flop with an -- Asynchronous Clear

D_Type_Flip_Flop: process(Reset_n, Clock_In)

  begin

    if (Reset_n = ’0’) then

      Q_Output <= ’0’ after 1 ns;

  elsif (Clock_In’event and Clock_In = ’1’) then

      Q_Output <= D_Input after 1 ns;

  end if;

end process D_Type_Flip_Flop;

This flip-flop has the following properties:

• An asynchronous active-low clear input sets the Q output to zero.
• It is triggered on the rising edge of the clock.

How to Create a Latch

While the Ten Commandments specifically forbid the use of latches, there are still those heretics who will insist on the use of latches. The code to instantiate a transparent latch is shown in Code Sample 2: A Transparent Latch

-- VHDL Code for a Transparent Latch

Latch_Data: process(Latch_Open, D_Input)

  begin

    if (Latch_Open = ’1’) then

      Latched_Data <= D_Input;

    -- If Latch_Open = 0, then Latched_Data keeps its old value, -- i.e. the latch is closed.

    end if;

end process Latch_Data;

This latch has the following properties:

• A latch control that opens the latch when high (the latch is transparent).

How to Create a Metastable- Hardened Flip-Flop

The use of a metastable-hardened flip flop is nothing more than the direct instantiation of a suitable library element in this case, a “dfntns” flip-flop. This is pure structural VHDL. The component declaration is shown in Code Sample 3:  A Metastable-Hardened Flip-Flop, Component Declaration

-- VHDL Code for a Nice Metastable-Hardened Flip-Flop

component dfntns

  Port (

    CP : In std_logic;

    D : In std_logic;

    Q : Out std_logic

  );

end component;

To use the flip-flop in your circuit, instantiate it as shown in Code Sample 4: A Metastable-Hardened Flip-Flop, Instantiation

-- VHDL Code to Instantiate the Metastable-Hardened Flip-Flop

Metastable_Hardened_Flip_Flop_Please: dfntns port map (

  D => D_Input,

  CP => Clock_In,

  Q => Q_Output

  );

This flip-flop has the following properties:

• A maximum clock-to-out time under worst-case setup and hold time violations. This time is available in the library element specifications.

The Care and Feeding of Toggle Signals

Receiving a Toggle Signal

The Ten Commandments paper suggested that a method for exchanging single- point information across clock domains is by the use of toggle signals. Here, it is assumed that the toggle event should generate an active-high pulse to pass to a state machine. Every toggle—rising edge and falling edge—must create the pulse. In addition, the pulse must be synchronized correctly to the receiver’s clock. The code to accomplish this is shown in Code Sample 5: Receiving a Toggle Signal

-- VHDL Code to Create a Pulse from an Asynchronous -- Toggle Signal

-- First, use a metastable-hardened flip-flop to synchronize the -- toggle input

Metastable_Hardened_Flip_Flop_Please: dfntns port map (

  D => Handshake_T,

  CP => Clock_In,

  Q => Sync_Handshake_T

  );

-- Now pass the synchronized toggle through another flip-flop

Toggle_Reg_Proc: process(Clock_In)

  begin

    if (Clock_In'event and Clock_In = ’1’) then

      Reg_Handshake_T <= Sync_Handshake_T after 1 ns;

    end if;

  end process Toggle_Reg_Proc;

-- Finally XOR the two synchronized signals to create a pulse

Toggle_Pulse <= Reg_Handshake_T xor Sync_Handshake_T;

When synthesizing this code, remember to use the “fix hold” option so a fast path doesn't occur between the two flip-flops in this circuit.

Generating a Toggle Signal

Recall that a toggle signal is generated by simply inverting a level to pass the information. The trivial code to do this is shown in Code Sample 6:  Generating a Toggle Signal

The suffix “_T” is used to denote a toggle signal.

-- VHDL Code to Create a Toggle Signal

Handshake_T <= not (Handshake_T) after 1 ns;

Coding State Machines
The creation of state machines is a mixture of art and science. A well-crafted state machine will possess a sense of elegance; it will be appealing, both functionally and visually.
Here, a very simple example is presented as an illustration of state machine design. The state diagram for the Flintstones State Machine is shown in figure below popularly known as The Flintstones State Machine.

The Flintstones State Machine operates as follows:

1. The State Machine has two states, State Bed and State Rock.
2. There is one output, Fred, which takes the value 0 in State Bed and 1 in State Rock.
3. A reset, caused by a low level on Reset_n, puts the State Machine into State Bed.
4. The State Machine waits in State Bed while Barney is low, and enters State Rock when Barney goes high.
5. The State Machine then waits in State Rock while Wilma is low, and returns to State Bed when Wilma goes high.

Implementing the Flintstones State Machine

An example implementation of the Flintstones State Machine is shown in Code Sample 7 below:

-- VHDL Code to Implement the Flintstones State Machine

Flintstones_SM_Proc: process(Sync_Reset_n, Clock_In)

  -- Enumerate state types:

  type Flintstones_Statetype is (

  Bed, Rock

  );

  -- define the state variable:

  variable Flint_State: Flintstones_Statetype;

  -- Here’s the state machine:

  begin

  -- Define the asynchronously set reset states...

    if (Sync_Reset_n = ’0’) then

      Fred <= ’0’ after 1 ns;

      Flint_State := Bed

      -- Default conditions for each output, in this case identical to the -- reset state:

    elsif (Clock_In’event and Clock_In = ’1’) then

      Fred <= ’0’ after 1 ns;

    -- Here are the state transitions:

    case Flint_State is

      when Bed =>

      -- Transition from Bed to Rock:

        if (Barney = ’1’) then

          Fred <= ’1’ after 1 ns;

          Flint_State := Rock;

          -- Holding term in Bed:

        else

          Flint_State := Bed;

        end if;

      when Rock =>

        -- Transition from Rock to Bed:

        if (Wilma = ’1’) then

          Fred <= ’0’ after 1 ns;

          Flint_State := Bed;

        -- Holding term in Rock:

        else

          Fred <= ’1’ after 1 ns;

          Flint_State := Rock;

        end if;

      -- Default term for dead states:

      when others =>

        Flint_State := Bed;

    end case;

  end if;

end process Flintstones_SM_Proc;

Notes on the State machine Implementation

For the most part, the Flintstones State Machine’s operation should be clear. A few points are worth noting, however:

1. The reset signal (Sync_Reset_n) is synchronized with Clock_In before being sent to the State Machine.
2. Barney and Wilma must also be synchronous to Clock_In; at the very least, there must be an assurance that the State Machine’s state and output regis- ter’s setup and hold times are not violated.
3. This design assigns a default value to each output and to the state variable before entering the case statement. This ensures that only those signals that are not taking default (usually inactive) values need be listed in the case statement. This is optional; it is entirely reasonable to list every signal under each transition term, including inactive signals.
4. Note that the output signal Fred comes directly from a D-type flip-flop: it is not a decode of the state variable. This ensures Fred’s cleanliness (so to speak).
5. The “when others” in the case statement handles the possibility that the State Machine might end up in a dead state.

The code examples in this tutorial should be considered as examples only. There are many ways to code excellent VHDL; this code is a place to start. If you have a neat snippet of VHDL to add to the list, then please post your valuable comments below.

Calculations using command-line

Many of you do most of your work from the command-line, using vim to edit files, mutt for e-mails, cd/ls/mv/find/etc instead of a file manager, then you may get annoyed by having to fire up a GUI calculator to make (what may sometimes be) a single calculation.

One useful feature of calculating on the command-line is that you can see what you've typed. For instance, sometimes when I'm entering a long, complex calculation on a calculator (either the GUI or the solid, hold-in-your-hand type), I sometimes forget if I've actually typed in all those numbers or made the calculations in the right order. Maybe it's just me ...

This article shows how to quickly perform standard calculations on the command line including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root, powers, conversion from decimal to hex, decimal to binary, hex to decimal, and binary to decimal. It also briefly introduces using bc in interactive mode and how to write files for use with bc for frequently repeated operations. There is a mention of using Google for performing calculations. It finishes with a little challenge to test the power of your CPU.

Other advantages of using bc include:

• bc is included with (almost?) all Linux distributions as standard, as well as (again, almost?) all Unix.
• Results from calculations in some proprietary flavours of bc have up to 99 decimal digits before and after the decimal point. This limit has been greatly surpassed in GNU bc. I don't know what that limit is, but it's at least many, many tens of thousands. Certainly it's more than any GUI-based calculators (I've used) could accommodate.
• You may also find yourself working in an environment where you simply don't have access to a GUI.
• The syntax for basic sums is almost identical to Google's calculator function, so you can learn how to use two utilities in one go!

bc is a pre-processor for dc. The useful thing about bc is that it accepts input from files and from standard input. This allows us to pipe data to it for quick calculations.

• addition
• subtraction
• multiplication
• scale
• division
• square root
• power
• parentheses
• obase and ibase
• convert from decimal to hexadecimal
• convert from decimal to binary
• convert from binary to decimal
• convert from hexadecimal to decimal
• a brief introduction to interactive mode
• using bc with shell scripts
• a brief introduction to using bc with files
• a quick challenge for your PC (GNU bc only)

Most of these examples follow a simple formula.

addition

$ echo '57+43' | bc
100

subtraction

$ echo '57-43' | bc
14

multiplication

$ echo '57*43' | bc
2451

scale
The scale variable determines the number of digits which follow the decimal point in your result. By default, the value of the scale variable is zero. (Unless you use the –l option in which case it defaults to 20 decimal places. More about –l later.) This can be set by declaring scale before your calculation, as in the following division example:

division

$ echo 'scale=25;57/43' | bc
1.3255813953488372093023255

square root

$ echo 'scle=30;sqrt(2)' | bc
1.414213562373095048801688724209
This beats Google's calculator function which only calculates the result to 8 decimal places! Although Google's calculator function has this 8 decimal places limitation, it will allow imaginary numbers as answers.

power

$ echo '6^6' | bc
46656

parentheses
If you have read Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast, you may recall that the number of parallel universes in the story equals (six to the power of six) to the power of six. If you should try to calculate that like this:

$ echo '6^6^6' | bc
You will get a screen full of numbers (some 37374 digits), not the
10314424798490535546171949056

that you might expect.

If you're running a non-GNU version of bc, you'll most likely get something like:

exp too big
empty stack
save:args

The Google Calculator balks at '6^6^6' as well. Good ol' GNU.

That's because you typed the wrong question. You need to type:

$ echo '(6^6)^6' | bc

Whereas what you did type was interpreted as:

$ echo '6^(6^6)' | bc

which is an entirely different number altogether. So the positioning of parentheses (brackets to you and me!) is very important. I use brackets to separate the different components of my sums whenever possible, just eliminate any possible doubt that I may get the wrong answer. Consider the following calculations:

$ echo '7+(6*5)' | bc

$ echo '7+6*5' | bc

$ echo '6*5+7' | bc

They all give the same answer, 37, but I would have typed the first calculation, unless of course, I meant:

$ echo '(7+6)*5' | bc

Or to put it another way:

$ echo '13*5' | bc

which is 65.

obase and ibase

obase and ibase are special variables which define output and input base.

Legitimate obase values range from 2 to 999, although anything beyond 16 is wasted on me!

Legitimate ibase values range from 2 to 16.

Some examples will explain all this better.

convert from decimal to hexadecimal

Here we're converting 255 from base 10 to base 16:

$ echo 'obase=16;255' | bc
FF

convert from decimal to binary

And here we're converting the number 12 from base 10 to base 2:

$ echo 'obase=2;12' | bc
1100

Which reminds me of the old joke:

There are only 10 types of people in the world -- those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Which leads us neatly onto the next example:

convert from binary to decimal

Here we're converting the binary number 10 to a base 10 (decimal) number.

$ echo 'ibase=2;obase=A;10' | bc
2

Note that the obase is "A" and not "10". Sorry, you've got to learn some hex. The reason for this is you've set the ibase to "2", so if you now had tried to use "10" as the value for the obase, it would stay as "2", because "10" in base 2 is "2". So you need to use hex to "break out" of binary mode.

Well, that was just to explain the joke; now something a bit more challenging:

$ echo 'ibase=2;obase=A;10000001' | bc
129

convert from hexadecimal to decimal

$ echo 'ibase=16;obase=A;FF' | bc
255

Again, note the use of "A" to denote base 10. That is because "10" in hex (base 16 - the ibase value) is 16.

a brief introduction to interactive mode
You can also run bc in interactive mode:

$ bc

If you're running GNU bc, you should get the following notice:

bc 1.06
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'.

Followed by an uninviting blank prompt. Otherwise you'll just get an uninviting blank prompt.
If you wish to get straight to the uninviting blank prompt, use the -q option, which runs bc in quiet mode, preventing the normal GNU bc welcome from being printed:

$ bc -q

Using the basics we've been through from the examples above, enter a calculation:

scale=5
57/43
1.32558

Type quit to exit bc interactive mode.

using bc with shell scripts
You can use shell variables with bc, which is very useful in shell scripts:

$ FIVE=5 ; echo "$FIVE^2" | bc
25

Note the use of double-quotes to preserve the value of the variable $FIVE.

a brief introduction to using bc with files

Using bc with files allows complex calculations to be repeated, again and again, a bit like using a spreadsheet to run the same calculations on changing figures ... but faster.

Here is a simple example:

scale=2

/* C-style comments
   are allowed, as are spaces */

print "\nConvert Fahrenheit to Celsius\n\n"
print "Temperature in Fahrenheit: " ; fah = read()
print "\n"
print "Equivalent Temperature in Celsius is: "
(fah - 32.0) * 5.0 / 9.0
quit

Create and save the file, then run it like this:

$ bc -q filename
Convert Fahrenheit to Celsius
Temperature in Fahrenheit: 61
Equivalent Temperature in Celsius is: 16.11

Note that this example has only been tested with GNU bc. Other (proprietary) versions of bc may have more stringent syntax requirements. Some bcs don't allow the use of print or read, for example, so you have to edit your file before each calculation. Not very useful.

a quick challenge for your PC (GNU bc only)
If you wish to test the comparative speed of your PC, try this challenge: use bc to calculate Pi to 5000 decimal places. The idea for this challenge came from a great article at Geekronomicon.
If you really want to tie up your machine for an hour (or more), you could try the "Pi to 25000 decimal places" challenge from the aforementioned Geekronomicon.

First, to put things in perspective, here is some information about my CPU:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | egrep "model name|MHz"
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
cpu MHz         : 2211.346

Note the use (below) of the command bc –l -q.
-l loads the math library which is required for the use of the "2" (arctangent) in the calculation for Pi. You can learn more about the math library functions in the bc command manual.
I'm not sure what effect the -q option (quiet, no welcome message printed) has on our test, but I guess it can't harm.

$ time echo "scale=5000; 4*a(1)" | bc -l -q
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307\
...
...
...
73774418426312986080998886874132604720

real    0m44.164s
user    0m44.099s
sys     0m0.008s

44.099 seconds! Not bad.  I imagine that some Gentoo folks may be interested to see what difference their compile-time optimisations make to the speed of bc. FWIW, my distro of choice is Arch Linux.

Solar energy may soon compete with fossil fuels

Solar panel prices have plummeted more than 80 percent in recent years, but solar power is still more expensive than fossil-fuel power in most places, and accounts for a tiny fraction of the world’s energy supply. Few people have a better idea of what it will take to make solar compete with fossil fuels than Richard Swanson, who founded SunPower, a major solar company that sells some of the industry’s most efficient solar panels. During SunPower’s almost 30 years in existence, Swanson has seen many types of solar technology come and go. At the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Denver this week, he sat down with MIT Technology Review’s Kevin Bullis to talk about where the solar industry is now, and where it needs to go in order to become a major source of electricity.

How close is solar to competing with fossil fuels?

It’s darn close. In 2000, a big study concluded that solar panels could get below $1 per watt [a level thought to make solar competitive in many markets]. At the time, everyone in the industry thought the authors were in la-la land. Now we’re under that cost target.

It’s not like there’s one cost number and then everything is all good. The value of solar power varies widely, depending on local sources of electricity that it’s competing with, the amount of sunlight, and other factors. There are geographic pockets where it’s becoming quite competitive. But we need to cut costs by at least another factor of two, which can happen in the next 10 years.

What new technology will it take?

Solar panels now account for less than half of the cost of a solar panel system. For example, installers spend a lot of time and money designing each rooftop solar system. They need to have a certain number of panels in a row, all getting the same amount of sunlight. A bunch of companies are automating the process, some with the help of satellites. One of the most exciting things is microinverters [electronics that control solar panel power output] that allow you to stick solar panels anywhere on a roof—it’s almost plug and play.

To almost everyone’s surprise, silicon is still chugging along. The new developments are pretty amazing. Panasonic, Sharp, and SunPower just announced solar cell’s that break a long standing efficiency record. We need to do things like keep improving efficiency with new solar cell architectures, like the one Panasonic used. There are three basic new cell structures, and all of them are nearing or are already in production. We need to make thinner silicon wafers, improve ways of growing crystalline silicon. We need to switch to frameless solar panels because the cost of the aluminum frame hasn’t been going down much. We need to get rid of silver electrical contacts and replace them with cheaper copper. It’s tricky, but it can be done.

Is investment in research on batteries for storing solar power just as important as developing new solar cell designs?

Oh, yes. Not just batteries—other kinds of storage, too, like thermal storage. A wild card is the possibility of using batteries in electric cars to store solar power. That could change everything. People say that the battery industry will never meet the cost targets you need for this. But I come from an industry that just blew away cost targets. It’s hard for me to argue they won’t be able to do it.

Motorola Moto E: Price, specifications, features and comparison

After leaving the Indian market in 2011, Motorola made a comeback last year with the Moto G, and how. Its first Smartphone post the comeback shook the Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 segment in the country. Motorola’s retail model, where it only sells phone via Flipkart, may seem restricting to many, but that didn’t stop the Moto G to become the best selling Smartphone in the company’s history. The Moto G was followed by the flagship Moto X, which was in fact launched much before in August last year. The device priced in the Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 range took a different path to its competitors — putting user experience ahead of the specification race. While its success may not have touched the dizzying heights of the Moto G, it nonetheless managed to impress many. Now, Motorola is back with another device, which too seems like a contender to shakeup the entry-level segment. Let’s have a detailed look at the Motorola Moto E.

MOTOROLA MOTO E PRICE IN INDIA
The Moto E is priced at Rs 6,999, which is quite aggressive. Motorola is focusing on changing the perception of entry-level devices and wants to offer first time Smartphone users a premium and well built device.

MOTOROLA MOTO E DESIGN
At first glance the Moto E looks quite similar to the Moto G, but look closer and you will see that the back panels have a different pattern, and there is no front-facing camera. In terms of dimensions, the Moto E (64.8×124.8×12.3mm) is shorter, less wide and slimmer than the Moto G (65.9×129.9×11.6mm)

The customization options include removable back panels, with up to nine different colored panels to choose from.

MOTOROLA MOTO E HARDWARE
DISPLAY – A 4.3-inch qHD display may not sound much, but you have to remember that no other tier-one company offers this kind of resolution in this price segment. The display is quite sharp and does a decent job in reproducing colors. Motorola has also added Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, which means the display won’t be easily scratched.

PROCESSOR – The device is powered by a Snapdragon 200 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and paired with Adreno 302 GPU. Motorola again gets one over its competitors by including a 1GB of RAM, where other companies only provide 512MB of RAM.

STORAGE – You get 4GB of internal storage of which only about 2.22GB is available for users. But on the plus side, there is a microSD card slot to expand the memory up to 32GB.

CAMERAS – There is a 5-megapixel rear camera, which is the same as the Moto G, but unfortunately it isn’t accompanied by a flash. The camera does an okay job at capturing images, but more often than now you would wish you had a flash. Selfie lovers won’t be happy to hear that there is no front camera.

BATTERY – There is a 1,980mAh battery, which the company claims is good enough to last for a day.

EXTRAS – Like the Moto G and the Moto X, the Moto E has a nano coating on the inside as well as the outside. The coating will ensure your device is protected from an occasional splash of water. The coating also ensures there aren’t any ugly flaps covering the ports.

CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS – Besides the usual connectivity options like 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the Moto E also has dual-SIM card slots. The dual-SIM functionality is quite smart in the sense that it keeps monitoring your usage and then automatically selects the SIM based on the contact you are calling.

MOTOROLA MOTO E SOFTWARE
The Motorola Moto E runs on the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat and Motorola has also promised that the device will get at least one more OS update. Additionally, Motorola has also introduced a host of new features like Moto Alert, Instant SMS and Emergency Mode. Moto Alert will automatically alert preset contacts when you leave a particular location, Instant SMS will send a text with your location to preset contacts in emergency situations, and in Emergency mode, the device will call a preset contact or sound an alarm.

MOTOROLA MOTO E FIRST IMPRESSIONS
We got to spend some time with the device and you can read our first impressions of the device here.

MOTOROLA MOTO E COMPARISONS
At the price point, the Moto E will be up against the likes of the Sony Xperia E1 Dual, Nokia X and the Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 among others. All the devices feature dual-core processors, 4GB expandable memory and are priced under Rs 9,000. The Moto E has the best display in terms of resolution, most RAM (1GB) and the biggest battery. It also runs on the latest Android KitKat and will get a guaranteed update. In the photography department, only Samsung offers a VGA front facing camera, while the rest don’t have one.

FEATURES	MOTOROLA MOTO E	SONY XPERIA E1 DUAL	NOKIA X	SAMSUNG GALAXY S DUOS 2
DISPLAY	4.3-inch qHD	4-inch WVGA	4-inch WVGA	4-inch WVGA
PROCESSOR	1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 dual-core	1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 dual-core	1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 dual-core	1.2GHz dual-core
RAM	1GB	512MB	512MB	768MB
STORAGE	4GB expandable	4GB expandable	4GB expandable	4GB expandable
CAMERAS (REAR/FRONT)	5-megapixel/ -	3-megapixel/ -	3-megapixel/ -	5-megapixel/VGA
BATTERY	1,980mAh	1,700mAh	1,500mAh	1,500mAh
Operating System	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	Android 4.3 Jelly Bean	Nokia Software Platform	Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
PRICE	Rs 6,999	Rs 8,363	Rs 6,955	Rs 8,305