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As expected, T-Mobile has offered up the Sunset colored BlackBerry Curve 8320. The newly colored handset will feature Wi-Fi and be HotSpot @Home Unlimited HotSpot Calling ready.

Aside from the unlimited calling over the HotSpot the features are what we have come to love and expect on the BlackBerry and include a 2-megapixel camera, microSD card slot, stereo Bluetooth, HTML web browsing, music and video player, voice dialing and is myFaves enabled.

You will be able to pick up the Sunset Curve beginning today for $149.99, which comes along with your usual two-year agreement. Keep reading to check out the full specs of the Curve 8320:

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During the “Give 1 Get 1” sale for the OLPC XO laptop, T-Mobile had been offering a free year of T-Mobile Hotspot access with any G1G1 purchase. Well, it seems that there was a time limit on just when you could activate your account and begin your free year of service and today, June 30 is the last day to take advantage of that offer. So if you were amongst that group and for some reason have not activated your T-Mobile service or were just holding off for some reason, you better act quick or risk loosing that perk.

In addition, it looks like the “Give 1 Get 1” program will be making a come back as expected later in this year. A recent update to the laptop.org wiki states to check the “website for more information after September 1.” Hopefully the sales will begin on, if not shortly after September 1, that way we can see some holiday time deliveries without much worry of a late delivery. The G1G1 is being worked on for “the US, Canada, and several other countries.”

Via [OLPC News]

Alltel has been working with Wi-Fi leader, Boingo, to bring unlimited Wi-Fi access to more than 25,000 hotspot locations. This service is available to both Alltel customers as well as non-Alltel users. In addition, Alltel is also offering their Internet Anywhere Bundle - more on that later.

Now, for $19.99 a month, or even $3.99 a day, you can get access to Alltel’s Wi-Fi in hotspots, which includes hotels, bookstores, restaurants, airports, and coffee shops. The neat thing about this is that you are not tied down to any contract, so if you wish to stop using it, you can easily opt out. Alltel is already offering this service in nearly 100 popular airports. So if you are waiting to catch a plane, you can get some work done using their Wi-Fi. Over the past year, Alltel has added nearly 15,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, so as time goes on, they will probably add even more to their already 25,000 hotspots in total.

Back to the “Internet Anywhere Bundle”, basically that gives you the option to use Alltel’s EVDO network or access to a Wi-Fi hotspot, and that costs $69.98 a month.

Angela Rittgers, Director of Product Marketing, had this to say about the new partnership and deals they have to offer;

“The Internet Anywhere Bundle is a common-sense approach to network connectivity and will enhance the choices available for our customers. Alltel, together with Boingo Wireless, is pleased to offer the flexibility of Wi-Fi to stay in touch with families and friends or access work email and schedules through a reliable connection.”

Read [Alltel] Via [Press Release]

Once again we are back on the AT&T free Wi-Fi offer, however in a refreshing twist (except for this mention) it has nothing to do with an iPhone. In fact this latest offer is giving all Laptop Connect customers, who are on a service plan of $60 or higher free access to Wi-Fi hotspots at any of AT&T’s 17,000 plus hotspots. The best news is that it is effective beginning today, May 20, 2008.

Effective tomorrow, May 20th, the long-awaited FREE WiFi Access to over 17,000 WiFi locations throughout the U.S. launches for Laptop Connect Customers with plans $60 or higher. This exciting new feature will allow customers unlimited access to over 17,000 WiFi locations at no extra charge including locations in Starbucks and McDonalds. Customers will need three things for this free access:

* A laptop card. FREE WiFi for Smartphones is not available yet, but will be later in 2008.
* The latest version of Communication Manager (version 6.8). Once loaded this version will automatically log onto AT&T hotspots.
* A Laptop Connect plan of $60 or greater.

Also, in addition to the Laptop Connect customers, all smartphone users will also be able to get free the same free Wi-Fi offer, however this will not be available till later in the year. Lets hope the free offer for smartphone users comes sooner than later, and also that this offer stays around.

Via [Boy Genius Report]

While we are yet to see an official announcement from AT&T, or any of the available locations there are reports of iPhone users being allowed free Wi-Fi access at a variety of locations. As you can most likely guess, thanks to all the recent switch over news that Starbucks is included in this offering, but there has also been some success reported at Barnes and Noble. With AT&T’s whopping 71,000 available locations that include many airports and McDonalds locations as well as the previously mentioned Starbucks and Barnes and Noble this should be welcome news to just about every iPhone user.

The first logon will present you with a special login window that prompts you for your telephone number, and of course asks you to agree to the terms. While we would never suggest that anyone break the terms, however there has also been a mention that this can be faked to gain access on laptops.

I think I may have to take a trip over to my local Starbucks today, to give this a testing. All in the name of tech though, not like I need any extra excuse to grab another Latte.

Via [MacRumors]

Its a sad day for T-Mobile as they are in the first stages of being pushed out of Starbucks. The official announcement about AT&T moving in and replacing the current T-Mobile wireless service was made back in early February and as of then it was just left as; the rollout will begin in the spring. Well spring has sprung and the first Starbucks location has just been switched over. The lucky location was in San Antonio, and it is located just a little over 4 miles from the corporate headquarters of AT&T on South Broadway Road.

Hopefully, (speaking as an AT&T customer) the roll-out will continue to move along at a steady rate, of course it will take some time to hit everywhere. Starbucks currently has over 700 locations that will be affected by the switch over. Now that the transition has begun we can only hope the current T-Mobile customers will get the continued access that was promised.

Via [Engadget]

Remember we told you about the Samsung T339 being added to T-mobile’s low end line up? Well, some more juicy information has been leaked from the FCC and it looks like the SGH-T339 will be HotSpot@Home capable.

While this particular phone having Wi-Fi is not really a big deal by itself, the fact that it could be used as a HotSpot@Home phone is really good news. But the bad news is, there is still no official word yet on the full specs, pricing or the official launch date. Looks like Samsung and T-Mobile are going to make us wait. The Samsung SGH-T339 is rumored to feature a clamshell design, microSD slot, music and video player, plus built-in Wi-Fi.

Via [phoneArena]

The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 which was released earlier through AT&T now has a new network. T-Mobile is bringing in all the goodness of RIM’s multimedia phone while putting in some of its network goodness including HotSpot @Home Service, which means Wi-Fi calls while on your home network.

With Wi-Fi connectivity for both voice and data, the BlackBerry 8120 hopes to add more functionality into T-Mobile’s phone offerings. Aside from Wi-Fi connectivity, the BlackBerry 8120 will also bring a 2.0-megapixel camera with 5x zoom, stereo Bluetooth support, a microSD/SDHC card slot, support for personal and corporate email, and web browsing at Wi-Fi speeds.

In addition to these features, the BlackBerry 8120 also features RIM’s SureType keyboard system that will enhance users typing experience with word completion, built-in spelling checker and a user-customizable dictionary. Even the BlackBerry’s web browser gets an improvement with a new page view option. The T-Mobile branded 8120 will be available on April 14.

Read [CNN Money]

I am not buying into Ericsson’s CMO Johan Bergendahl’s comments regarding the future of WiFi.  Mr. Bergendahl is quoted as saying WiFi hot spots are going the way of the dodo bird, that is, extinct in the near future.  Perhaps in Europe this is readily becoming the case thanks to a densely populated landscape.  But WiFi Hotspots shouldn’t die over this.  Here is why:

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While Starbucks shutting their doors for a few hours during the day would normally not make for good news here on Gadgetell, we are more than a little curious as to what they could be getting trained on, or perhaps for. Starbucks has announced they will be shutting down for three hours today. Beginning at 5:30 pm and running through 8:30 pm local time, all stores will be shutting down for employee training.

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