Before I came down to San Francisco for the Web 2.0 and Podcast Hotel conferences, I stopped by my local Cingular dealer and upgraded my phone and data plan. I had been using the relatively-solid 2125, but craved 3G network speed. Their Windows Mobile selection was paltry, reminding me once again about how corrupt and misdirected the entire wireless carrier ecosystem really is. Why can I only use this phone with that service? Asinine.

Anyway, I decided to get the BlackJack largely because it was thin – and all the other Windows Mobile devices had dumbass keyboard/screen locking mechanisms. I don’t want to put the phone in my pocket unless there’s a serious “simple” sequence for unlocking the phone without necessarily requiring a password. That’s one thing that drove me nuts about my old Pocket PCs.

While I’m complaining, what the hell is up with mobile devices not using mini USB for charging and connecting to anything and everything else? WTF?!

So, I take the BlackJack home – play with it for a bit, try to set it up as a modem for Vista (no workie), etc. Discover that it won’t charge by USB unless it’s set up to connect via ActiveSync (WTF?!). Everything seems to be working fine and fast enough. I take the phone with me to SF, etc.

Last night, it just died. Seriously. I get nothing when I try to turn it on. The battery died – should have been charging by USB like it did before, etc. Now I’m stuck in San Francisco without a cell phone. I’m not going to buy another damn proprietary charger for it because I’m strongly considering taking it back to Cingular when I return to Seattle. I hear the thing doesn’t have a great battery life (even with the extended battery pack), anyway.

Why must every single mobile phone on this planet SUCK?! Don’t tell me the iPhone is going to rescue us from this living hell, either…