Starting this Spring, Starbucks will drop T-Mobile as their wireless hotsport provider and will replace them with at&t/waypoint.

The price for the hotspot access will also change. Under T-Mobile access was 10 dollars for a day or 6 dollars an hour. Under at&t the price will change to 6 dollars per 2 hours, or you can get a monthly access plan for 20 dollars a month.

Starbucks Card holders can enjoy up to two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day at Starbucks locations offering Wi-Fi access, while more than 12 million qualifying AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verseSM Internet customers will have unlimited free access to the Wi-Fi service. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T’s remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations. AT&T will soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers.

I personally feel as my T-Mobile hotspot plan has just lost all of its value.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is thinking about offering a Flat Rate Unlimited calling plan. This would basically mean you could get unlimited calling anytime minutes.

If sprint does offer such a plan, would send shock waves throughout the industry and other companies are sure to follow.

Hesse said in a USA Today article that if Sprint can’t be different they cannot win.

Sprint definitely needs to do something, as their customer base has dwindled and the only good thing that came from the Nextel purchase was probably the rights to have the “Sprint” name plastered all over NASCAR events.

Sprints major competitors are adding 2 million new users each quarter, while sprint has lost close to 800,000.

Little note, no word on pricing for the Unlimited Calling Plan as of yet and Sprint says it is just a thought and they have not signed off on it yet.

Microsoft just announced an agreement to buy the maker of the popular sidekick software Danger.

“Making a big step forward with its commitment to bring compelling new experiences to the mobile consumer, Microsoft today announced its agreement to acquire Danger, a popular software and mobile services company. Danger has a passion for the mobile consumer and combining its services with Microsoft’s connected entertainment and experiences technologies will provide Microsoft with the tools to accelerate its work to create industry-leading entertainment and communication experiences for consumers.” Said Microsoft in a press release about the acquisition.

Microsoft has said that they plan to leave Danger as is but will work with them on improving Windows Mobile. I for one don’t think it is a bad idea to have some people at Danger offer suggestions to Microsoft about Windows Mobile, as they do need some fresh thinking.

I also believe that Microsoft really wants to become a major player in the Mobile Market, they also want to attract more teens to the companies brand. With the purchase of Danger they will obviously accomplish just that.

Today in Barcelona Microsoft announced that Sony Ericsson will deliver a new Smartphone that will use Windows Mobile 6, and some already are saying this new phone will give the iPhone a run for its money.

The XPERIA X1 from Sony Ericsson will feature a 3 Inch WVGA screen, Multiple input and navigation; Touch Screen user interface. A fully functional QWERTY keyboard that slides out, Joystick and 4 way key. The phone will also come with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera for both video and still images, built in WiFi and GPS.

“People should be able to have phones that deliver what they need throughout the day and stay connected with today’s broad array of on-demand information and entertainment no matter where they are,” said Pieter Knook, senior vice president, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft. “Our shared vision with Sony Ericsson is to make the concept of ‘One Phone for Your Life’ a reality and finally give consumers the freedom of true mobility.”

The phone will work on the following networks: EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100.

The phone will be available in the second half of 2008 but no word on which providers will have the phone. I personally hope T-Mobile gets it.

“XPERIA is our promise to think foremost about user experience and to deliver on our goal of providing a true premium experience — anytime, anywhere, anything, with anyone,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, head of Portfolio and Proposition at Sony Ericsson. “By working with Microsoft on the XPERIA X1, we have been able to couple our excellence in creating compelling consumer propositions with the productivity capabilities of Windows Mobile to deliver a seamless blend of mobile Web communication and multimedia entertainment within a distinctive design.”

So will the XPERIA X1 be an iPhone killer? It can be, but it will only be one if Sony Ericsson, Microsoft and the various service providers that pick it up market the phone. Which probably won’t happen.

For more information visit: http://www.sonyericsson.com/x1/

Just in time for Valentines day, Palm has released a Pink Palm Centro Today.

The Pink Palm Centro is available now at Sprint.com and Palm.com for as little as $99 with a 2 year contract. The Centro allows for text, IM, email and web, and comes with a built in camera.

The Centro also comes in Ruby Red and Black.

So, we here are CellRants.com got our hands on the Parrot 3200 Bluetooth Car Kit.

The Parrot 3200 car kit is a nice little system that should be professionally installed unless you have knowledge of your car’s audio system. I will admit I was a bit intimidated with the installation process and paid my dealership to install it for a cost of $100 USD.

You will need to connect it to your car’s speaker system. In my case, it would require removing the dash board, and being that the car I have is a brand new, not even 2 months old, and my experience installing anything in a car is limited, I was a bit hesitant to do it on my own. So, I paid my dealership 100 bucks, and they got it done in 30 minutes with me watching. It probably would have taken them 15 had I not been watching over the guys shoulder, and probably would of taken me an hour if I done it on my own. The instructions included with the kit were very good, and even the most novice of people can follow it.

Once the Unit is installed in your car, all you really have to do is pair up with your phone, and that is as easy as pairing your phone up to a headset that sits on your ear. You can have up to 5 phones paired to the 3200. It will also sync with the address book on your phone. It also allows for you to set up voice dialing.

After I got everything set up to my liking, I decided to wait for my first phone call. 1 hour passed; 2 hours passed; 5 hours passed, then finally it rang. I was excited; I jumped for joy.

To hear the call through my car’s speakers was really cool, and the clarity was great. I kept the person I was talking to on the phone and drove around with the windows cracked. They said they heard a little wind but it wasn’t bad, and they still could hear me perfectly.

After receiving my first call after 5 hours of waiting, I decided to make a call myself. I already pre-programmed the 3200 with some names and numbers for the voice dialing feature. I tried it out, and it worked. This impressed me because the voice dialing feature on my phone never works on the first try. Needless to say I was pretty stoked.

Just a note, if you are listening to music or the radio in your car and you receive a call, don’t worry, the 3200 will mute out the radio and bring in the call when you answer it. You do not need to manually lower your radio when you answer a call.

The 3200 Kit includes a little LCD screen that will display the picture of the person that is calling you along with their name and number.

Overall the Parrot 3200 is a great little unit. It delivers crystal clear sound over your car’s speakers. It’s easy to install if you are familiar with your cars workings, and if not, I was quoted as little as 50 dollars to install it. (I chose a dealership so I wouldn’t void my car’s warranty). The unit is simply great, and for that, we award it our 5 Star Kick Ass award.

The Parrot 3200 is available from Parrot.com for $250 USD. There is a GPS version available also the Parrot 3400 for $289.99. But can be found over at Amazon.com for much less.

Palm hasn’t had the best of luck lately. Last year they laid off some 1200 employees, this year they announced they would close their retail stores and their market share has slowly dropped.

But I, for one, don’t understand how their market share is dropping when they have great devices available such as the Treo 755p.

The 755p has a great look too it. It is however a little bulky, but you get used to it after a bit, but then again the power it has probably requires its bulk. It truly is powerful. Everything seemed instant, and there were no loading or wait screens.

Going from your calendar to your contacts was a breeze. I think we have to credit the OS the 755p runs, because the Windows Mobile version of the 755 doesn’t load everything so easily and quickly. I know a lot of people claim the Palm OS is outdated, and I probably have said that in the past. I will admit I love Windows Mobile, but spending a month with the 755p has changed my opinion on the Palm OS.

The phone also constantly had a good signal. I had the phone side by side the Samsung Juke, and while both had signals, the Treo always had 4 bars while the Juke occasionally had 2.

Sound quality on the phone is also great. You can hear everyone loud and clear, but that’s one thing that all Palm phones have in common, great sound quality.

The Treo 755p can also be used as a music player, and the sound quality there is pretty good, no complaints from me.

Overall the Treo 755p is a great device, and we recommend it to every business professional out there. We also award it our 5 Star Must Have award.

It’s sad that with such a great device a company like Palm is not doing so well.

For more information about the Treo 755p, Visit Verizonwireless.com, Sprint.com, or Palm.com.

In bills sent out this month, at&t wireless put out a notice stating that effective March 30th 2008 the text messaging rand picture messaging rates will be going up to 20 and 30 cents respectfully.

This is the 2nd increase in as many years.

This increase really does not effect users who have a messaging plan, only those who do not.

If you do not have a messaging plan, and you possibly want out of your contract with at&t wireless, you can do so by siteing the increase as a change in your contract.

LaIndia has had a new child, while she isn’t named yet I thought I would share the pictures.

I know this isn’t cellphone related news but we are excited about the new addition and wanted to share it with everyone.

Nokia worked with designer Frédérique Daubal to create a laser-etched graphic designs, distinctive wallpapers as well as exclusive accessories to the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism.

“At Nokia we are constantly looking for new and innovative shapes, styles and materials combined with advanced features and personalized experiences,” said Jo Harlow, who oversees the Live category in Nokia. “Additionally, we continue to seek opportunities to collaborate with designers and artists at the top of their fields, who can offer different talents and insights to help us create products that meet the individual and unique lifestyle needs of consumers.” said a Nokia Rep.

the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism features an eye-catching large OLED display, with organic, modern digital art wallpapers inspired by Daubal. From a technical standpoint, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism comes with a 2 megapixel camera, 3G technology for fast and easy downloads and browsing, 1 GB of internal memory and a music player with matching headset. The user can also personalize the color of the light in the keymat choosing from 49 different colors.

Additional wallpapers designed by Frédérique Daubal are available for downloading at http://www.nokiaprismcollection.com.  The website also includes images and information of the Nokia Prism Collection.