See the black screen on my phone? It's black because the bastard battery died again. One phone call/voice mail and the battery's dead in less than two hours! I HATE THIS PHONE!!!

My mobile phone needs are very simple. 1) I want demand a phone that isn't DOA whenever someone leaves me a voice mail. 2) This is "disposable" technology: Don't expect me to pay $200+ for a phone AND commit to a two-year contract. If I'm paying roughly $500 for something (factoring in the cost of being committed for 2 years), I'd better get more than two years of usefulness out of it! Oh! And 3) I want a phone that I can iSynch with my iCal and Calendar programs. It would be nice, too, to have text message and photo capabilities but those are negotiable.

Unfortunately, my current provider (Sprint) only seems to have more cheap-ass phones, none of which are supported by iSync (save for the Treo, which, for my purposes, would be rather like swatting a mosquito with a sledgehammer). Nextel, which recently merged with Sprint, actually has some phones in their line-up that are iSync-supported. Allegedly, the Sprint stores carry some Nextel equipment: Just not the Sprint stores I've been to (and it's been about a half-dozen in the San Francisco/Oakland area), evidently. In fact, most of the associates at the Sprint stores said I'd just have to switch to Nextel. But the associate at the Sprint "kiosk" at Embarcadero Center this afternoon said the stores should start carrying more Nextel equipment in the next 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure that I can put up with the piece-of-crap phone (that's currently recharging. Again.) for that long, though.

While I'm at it, what would also be nice is a mobile service provider that doesn't HATE their customers. But I may as well ask for the moon and all of the stars; I'm more likely to get them than I am a service provider that appreciates customers. I wandered into a Cingular store the other day to check their phone line-up and service packages. Like Nextel, they have phones that are supported by iSync. They also have the new Rockr by Motorola--that's the iTunes phone. While it's tempting, I think it's too complex a gadget--too many things that could go wrong with it. I'd rather get a cheaper phone and an iPod. But I digress.

I found a phone that I was interested in and wanted to talk plans. The $39.99 one sounded okay to me, until I asked about how much the monthly bill would be after taxes and surcharges. The sales associate said, "oh, around $53." That was pretty much the deal-breaker. THIRTEEN dollars in surcharges and taxes??? Sprint's only come out to around $6/mo. He offered to throw in a car charger if I'd sign up. Rather than tell him he'd have to do a LOT better tha a car charger, I took his card and thanked him for his time. Unlike the Sprint guy across the street, this guy actually tried to be helpful (in fairness, the Sprint kiosk guy was helpful...he just doesn't have what I want). If I do decide to switch to Cingular, I'd want him to get the sales credit.

So the hunt continues...