Windows Phone Thoughts: Windows Phone 7 Turns on When Charging: Problem or Not?

I received an email from a Windows Phone Thoughts reader who was quite irritated by a particular feature that some Windows Phone 7 devices seem to have: they turn on when connected to power if they're in a powered off state. In his own words:

"All Windows Phone 7 devices I have tried (since I'm in the USA, that means multiple Samsung Focus and HTC Surround devices) power on when you plug in a charging cable and, worse, if you power off while charging will instantly power back on. This is bad for anyone that turns their phone off at night to charge so they don't get woken up (like myself). It appears like this is either by design or a bug in the WP7 operating system."

When you power off the phone, then connect it to power, it automatically boots up. That's kind of stupid - why override what the user wants? If I'm turning off my phone and connecting it to power, it must be for a reason, right?

He goes on to say that it's also a problem that the phone will light up in the middle of the night when a new email/text comes in - his wife is a light sleeper, and this disturbs her. The LG Quantum does this as well, so I suspect all Windows Phone 7 devices turn on their screen when a new email/text comes in. I don't put my phone on my bedside table very often, or if I do, it's in silent mode and not connected to power - and I'm not the kind of sleeper that tends to get woken up by a small light. I can understand the scenario here though: what the phone should do is not turn on the screen at all if it's in silent or vibrate mode. Microsoft doesn't seem to have thought through the scenarios very well here.

So why doesn't Microsoft allow the phone to charge and stay powered off? And why does the screen light up when the phone is in silent or vibrate mode? Great questions. Survey time: tell me if these problems frustrate you or not. Sound off in the comments to clarify.

UPDATE: I should clarify that the screen not turning on while in silent/vibrate mode would be user-configurable for specific times. Think of a "Blackout Period" during which your phone wouldn't make any sounds, wouldn't vibrate, and wouldn't turn the screen on. Think of it as a "Don't disturb me at all" setting, but you still have your phone powered up in case you need to use it quickly.