There seems to be hints that in some cases, the battery may not be able to supply enough power all at once to start up our toys, as if starting them draws more current in a short time than the battery can supply when it is partly drained.

There also seems to be hints that the problem may be related to a sleep mode or the device turning itself off after putting the device on charge.

Anyone who tries to start the device with many rapid button presses probably just hasn't clued in that you must hold the button until the splash screen appears, after many presses they finally accidently hold the button long enough to start it.

This is either to protect against accidental starts, or it's because holding the button gives the system the extra juice it needs to fire up, like the ballast on a fluorescent light.

Just to repeat my example, since it does not appear to have been acknowledged ...

If I put my N810 on charge and walk away without locking it, come back later, it will always be OFF when i return. take it off charge and try to start it properly by holding the button down ... it will not start. If I put it back on charge, it will start.

If I put my N810 on charge and walk away without locking it, come back later, it will always be OFF when I return. leave it on charge and try to start it properly by holding the button down ... it WILL start.

If I lock my N810, then put it on charge (or put it on charge and then lock it), come back later, it is always fine when I return, whether or not I take it off charge. It is not off, but in a low power mode. I simply unlock it and carry on. It will be charged up, and my emails, RSS feeds, and weather will already be up to date.

If while not on charge, I intentionally shut the device off and restart it properly by holding the button down ... rebooting it, without putting it on charge. It always starts up fine.

So, for me, the problem relates to:
- Leaving the device powered on but not locked when putting it on charge, leaving it to turn itself off when it has sat idle long enough while on charge.

Which again means the problem is either related to the self powerdown / sleep modes, or that it is expecting to see the same current available when it starts up as it had available when it shut off while on charge, or that there are times when the battery can not supply enough current at once to fire it up, ... our own little 'Apollo 13' problem.

Maybe a black splash screen would have made more sense