So, I’m not one to do a lot of ranting about products, and there are many features to my Nexus that I appreciate, but one I don’t appreciate is the need to nurse it back to life in 15 to 45 minute procedures involving multiple steps every time the battery dies. Here is what happened recently: I took my Nexus for a walk to raise money for the World Food Programme. I came home and put it on the sideboard. When I went to look at it the next day and resume my walk, it was dead. I tried turning it on — got nothing but a tiny flare of light in the middle button on the screen. I went on another computer (good thing I have two) and looked up what to do next. I followed multiple instructions including:

• Plugging it in to a computer.
• Allowing it to sit for 5 minutes. Trying to turn it on again. 
• Unplugging it and plugging it back in within 10 seconds. Trying to turn it on again.
• Allowing it to sit for 15 minutes, trying it again. This time I got the outline of a battery, which was supposed to mean that if I held the power button for 15 to 30 seconds, it should turn on, but it didn’t.
• Allowing it to sit for another 15 minutes, then trying it again, at which time it deigned to turn back on again.

Am I crazy or is this a lot of time to be spending nursing an electronic back to life? So a little word to the wise: if you are going to buy a new handheld, you might want to read some reviews and find out how the battery life works on that device. This was an unexpected side job that I got with my Nexus: the job of Chief Nurse and Technician for a battery that seems to be saying, like the famous Bartleby the Scrivener: “I’d prefer not to.”