Sofia The First Tablet

[Paciente Flynn]

Intelofficially announced the first batch of SoFIA products earlier this year, promising to deliver them sometime in the second quarter. The first products appear to be trickling out, with no fanfare or hype.

The chipmaker announced the first three Atom x3 parts a month ago, with an emphasis on smartphones. However, in addition to SoFIA phones, Intel also proceeded to offer assistance to tablet manufacturers who opted to embrace its latest low-cost architecture.

The SoC features antiquated Mali 400MP2 graphics with support for 1280x800 displays. It might not sound like much, but SoFIA is all about value. Therefore the SoC is manufactured in 28nm, the cheapest node for the time being, and it has a few features that might make it attractive in the low-end smartphone and tablet space.

At just $69.99, the tablet is dirt cheap and makes us wonder what sort of pricing we can expect from SoFIA phones. The pricing basically puts the entry-level SoFIA part toe to toe with the cheapest dual-core Cortex A7 parts used in most bargain bin Android phones on the market today. These ARM parts tend to feature the same Mali 400 GPU, but usually fall short in terms of connectivity and GPS support.

Intel is accelerating its transformation from a PC company to one that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected computing devices. We will intensify our investments to fuel the virtuous cycle of growth in the data center, IoT, memory and FPGA businesses, and to drive more profitable mobile and PC businesses. Intel delivers a broad range of computing and connectivity technologies that are foundational to this strategy and that position us well to lead the end-to-end transition to 5G. Our connectivity strategy includes increased investment in wired and wireless communications technology for connecting all things, devices and people to the cloud, and to power the communications infrastructure behind it. We re-evaluated projects to better align to this strategy.

I can confirm that the changes included canceling the Broxton platform as well as SoFIA 3GX, SoFIA LTE and SoFIA LTE2 commercial platforms to enable us to move resources to products that deliver higher returns and advance our strategy. These changes are effective immediately.

Update 4/30: After publication, Intel sent along a second message clarifying that Broxton is canceled for both "phones and tablets," as the latter was not mentioned in their original message.

Meanwhile, just under two years ago, in order to address the lower-end of the market and to more directly compete with aggressive and low-margin ARM SoC vendors, Intel announced the SoFIA program. SoFIA would see Intel partner with the Chinese SoC vendors Rockchip and Spreadtrum, working with them to design cost-competitive SoCs using Atom CPU cores and Intel modems, and then fab those SoCs at third party fabs. SoFIA was a very aggressive and unusual move for Intel that acknowledged that the company could not compete in the low-end SoC space in a traditional, high-margin Intel manner, and that as a result the company needed to try something different. The first phones based on the resulting Atom x3 SoCs launched earlier this year, so while SoFIA has made it to the market it looks like that presence will be short-lived.

Update 5/02: In a newer statement, Intel has confirmed that Apollo Lake will be offered to tablet manufacturers. At this point it's not clear what the tradeoffs are for that versus Willow Trail, and whether Apollo Lake is suitable for all types of devices that the current-generation Cherry Trail has been used in. But this does mean we will see tablets using the Goldmont CPU core, while Intel Intel will flesh out the rest of their tablet SoCs with Core-based parts. Intel will also "continue to support" their tablet customers with Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, and SoFIA parts.

Also not discussed in greater detail is Intel's future plans for their overall Atom lineup. With Apollo Lake announced just earlier this month, it's clear that Intel's Atom efforts have not been cancelled entirely. We will still see the new 14nm Goldmont cores appear in low-cost PCs under Apollo Lake, most likely in several 11-to-13 inch high volume devices. However for the moment there is not an Atom core on Intel's roadmap beyond Goldmont.

Childhood cancer patients/survivors can apply to receive one of three (3) scholarships toward their college education. Recipients of the Sofia Blanco College Scholarships will receive a $2,000 allowance fortuition/room and board, plus a laptop or tablet (first-time awardees only).

Siblings of a childhood cancer patient/survivor can apply to receive one of three (3) scholarships toward their college education. Recipients of the Gabriela Blanco College Scholarships will receive a $2,000 allowance for tuition/room and board, plus a laptop or tablet (first-time awardees only).

Scholarship recipients will receive the laptop or tablet in the summer either via mail or in-person presentation. The $2,000 award willl be paid directly to their accredited college/university by August 1, 2025 to help with tuition and/or room and board.

During the Call for Applications period, your application can be saved as DRAFT until all the required information is completed and attachments uploaded. As each section is complete, you will see a appear in the category tab when the application is saved. At any time, you can download and print your application by clicking on the icon in the Application Summary section.

Upon completion, save your Nomination as FINAL. Download and print a copy of your application for your records by clicking on the icon in the Application Summary section in the right column. Note: If an update is required prior to the Call for Applications period, you can make the update and resave as FINAL.

Before you can raise animals on your farm, you'll need to fix up their living arrangements. There is a chicken coop and an animal barn already, but they are in bad shape and need repair before you can house animals inside of them. The chicken coop requires 20 Softwood Lumber, 7 Material Stone, and 1000 G. The animal barn requires 30 Softwood Lumber, 10 Material Stone, and 1500 G. The Material Stone won't be available until Gus moves in as you work through the third lighthouse tablet, which unlocks the mine and awards you with a hammer for collecting raw stone. Gus' forge can turn 3 stone into 1 Material Stone.

You'll also need to entice the animal dealers to return to Beacon Island. There is a bridge in the mountain area, close to the entrance leading to your farm, that requires 5 Softwood Lumber, 2 Stone (the raw material), and 600 G to repair. Once the bridge is repaired, you also have to repair Sofia's Livestock shop by using 5 Softwood Lumber, 10 Material Stone, and 300 G. The next day, walk into the mountain area to meet Max the dog, Michael, Gabriel, and Sofia. The next day after that you can shop at Sofia's Livestock from 6am until 4pm. Her shop is closed on Sundays.

The wild bobcat can become your pet once it reaches max friendship and you upgrade to the Large House. While the pet dog is used in the Dog Race festival (and nothing else), the cat is just for show (pre-2.0 patch for PC version) or can randomly restore a half-heart of stamina when you pick it up (Ps4, Switch, and post-2.0 patch).

After your first purchase, Sofia will give you a Pitchfork to pick up Compost that will randomly appear on the barn floor, a Brush to keep the livestock animals clean (chickens don't require brushing), and 10 Animal Feed. She'll also give you a Milker with your first Cow purchase, and Clippers at your first Sheep purchase. You can buy additional Animal Feed at her shop for 30 G each. If an animal get sick because its stress level is too high, she also sells Animal Medicine (5000 G) and Chicken Medicine (3500 G).

After you buy your first cow you'll also unlock Calvin the Harvest Sprite. You can use Calvin's abilities to herd the livestock animals out of their barns. A yellow herding bell will appear on the outside of the Animal Barn after Calvin appears. A bell will be on the exterior of the chicken coop as well, but you can only have one group of animals outside at a time; either the chickens are outside or the livestock are outside. You're out of luck if you want to keep the animals within a certain area on your farm. Doc starts to sell Wooden Fence for 3 Softwood Lumber, 1 Iron, and 300 G each after you buy a livestock animal. Even though you can place fence out around your area, using the bell will herd the animals out into the farmyard in a preset location; you can't control where they are placed and they will wander all over the western area of the farm.

You can also breed animals. For chickens, just place an egg into the nesting box inside the poultry barn. It will take 5 days to hatch, and then the standard 8 days for the chick to mature into a chicken. For cows, sheep, and donkeys, you'll have to buy a Miracle Potion from Sofia's shop for 8000 G. The pregnant livestock animal will sit in one of the wall stalls and cannot be fed or moved outside. It will give birth after 7 days. Baby animals start out with 0 friendship notes (i.e., they do not carry over any friendship from their mother).

You need to have room in your barn for these new animals to appear in Sofia's inventory. Doc will sell a Big Animal Barn upgrade and a Level 2 Chicken Coop upgrade after you finish the storyline. The Big Animal Barn can hold a total of 15 livestock animals and costs 120,000 G, 30 Hardwood Lumber, 3 Mithril, and 2 Adamantite. The Level 2 Chicken Coop has room for a total of 15 birds and costs 100,000 G, 20 Hardwood Lumber, 3 Gold, and 1 Adamantite. Adamantite Ore appears in the mine starting on floor 60. You'll need 3 Adamantite Ore to process into 1 Adamantite at Gus' forge.

The higher your friendship, the greater the chance of producing higher quality goods. Chickens and cows will produce goods every day. Sheep and donkeys will produce fur every three days. Cows and chickens will produce goods every day.

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