Got a message "Battery too low for radio". Fair enough but I was charging the darn phone so how is the battery too low?

10 minutes I've waited now and still get the same message.

pull battery and hold down power button for a full 3 minutes and retry

If the battery is dead (or nearly so), I've seen it take 20 minutes to get enough back to turn the radio on.

I thought that was a little weird myself the first couple times, but I noticed the same time frame, 20 min. or so before the radio will turn on again.

Phones (RIM, Nokia, Samsung, Moto) are designed to work from a battery. When the charger is applied, it is to recharge the battery, not power the phone. When you turn your phone on while on the charger, you are still using a trickle charge from the battery. Radio transmissions (turn radio on) use lots of power, so even with other brand phones, if the battery is super dead, the phone will power, but not be able to make a call.

If you need your radio back on from a super dead battery ASAP, keep the phone powered off while you stick it on the charger for 10-15 minutes, then all should be good.

Hope this helps!