Also, unconditionally opening a connection before finding out if they even have data to shoot across?
Even worse, the device in question ("Fascinate") was apparently just a Verizon-branded version of the Galaxy S, which probably gave them a false sense of security if they tested their app on the Galaxy S.
But, as you touch on, there do seem to be some things they could have done differently here. Checking the last time the logs were sent, not connecting unless there is data to send, etc.