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Sticky rubber/plastic coating on gadgets and how to remove them

I’ve drowned my old Sony Z4 Tablet (yeah, I’m still not entirely sure how I pulled that one off) and have been living without an Android tablet for about a year now. In the meantime, I’ve bought myself a 12.9 inch iPad Pro 1, which I’m using to type this post.

Anyway, the point of this post isn’t about neither the Z4, nor the iPad Pro. Yes, this post is all about my 10 inch Nexus 10, the flagship hardware created by Samsung to Google’s exacting specifications.

I’ve stopped using it since 2016 (I know, because when I fired the baby up, she held a full charge* and all the chrome tabs were circa ‘16), and 2 years of storage in humid South East Asia did the poor sod no favors.

In some way, I think I’ve come to disuse this tablet because of how bad it feels in the hand. Some boffin thought it would be splendid if the Nexus 10 felt like a good 2B accompaniment - the veritable eraser - and coated the damned thing in a layer of rubberised something. In some way, I suppose they had their reasons.. the coating did feel good to the touch, and it also had the twin effect of reducing fingerprint smudges, which were very prevalent and very much held in disdain.

The problem with the rubberised something was that this thing disintegrates over time, and melts into basically glue. Yes, glue. I won’t even call it goo to make it sound good - glue is glue. There’s no way I’m going to be holding what is the equivalent of a tablet sized, once-licked candy bar in my hand while trying to peruse YouTube. There’s just no way.

And so I asked the Oracle of all that is Good - Google. I asked the Good Oracle, “O Google - How do I remove Glue from my Gadget?” And the Good Oracle doth reply: “Use Isopropyl Alcohol, and Rub your Gadget with a Sponge of Melamine”

And so it has come to pass, and the resurrection of the Nexus 10 was my little Christmas Miracle.

Happy Holidays Everybody!

*The tablet lasted all of 2 hours then auto-shutdown due to low battery - I suppose the battery calibration was a little off after 2 years in storage!

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