AT&T’s new USB modems include HSPA+, LTE-upgradeable, and prepaid options

It’ll be a little while before AT&T’s LTE rollout is in full swing — but if you’re the kind of individual that enjoys some margin of future-proofing, you’ll want to take a close look at the just-announced USBConnect Adrenaline modem for AT&T, an LG-sourced unit that becomes the carrier’s very first device to tout LTE upgradeability in 2011. In the meantime, you get HSPA, a microSD slot with support for up to 32GB, and GPS; it runs $49.99 on contract. Next up, Sierra Wireless’ USBConnect Shockwave is AT&T’s first HSPA+ modem, meaning it’ll work nicely on AT&T’s upcoming HSPA+ upgrade — an upgrade that’ll have a more immediate impact in some areas than LTE will; this one goes for a nice, fat zilch on contract. Finally, the Huawei USBConnect 900 is AT&T’s first Huawei device (notice a lot of firsts here?), and it’ll be “compatible” with AT&T’s prepaid DataConnect Pass plans of $15, $30, and $50 for 100MB, 300MB and 1GB, respectively. Look for the Adrenaline and 900 in stores on October 17; the Shockwave hasn’t been dated just yet. Follow the break for AT&T’s full press release.

Motorola reveals Citrus entry-level Android smartphone

Beside teaming up with AT&T, Motorola got cozy with Verizon too and announced two Android (2.1) smartphones that will be released by it later this quarter. One of those two models is called Citrus and is an entry-level and wannabe affordable touchscreen phone.

Citrus includes a touch panel located on the back that helps with navigation, comes with seven home screen panels to choose from, and has a housing made from 25% post-consumer recycled plastic.

The phone’s price tag was not revealed.

AT&T’s Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus hands-on

We just spent a few fleeting moments with AT&T’s just-announced Pre Plus and Pixi Plus from Palm, and they’re pretty much exactly what you’d expect: GSM remixes of the models available on Verizon (we weren’t allowed to take a peek at the SIM slots, but rest assured, there’s an AT&T carrier logo up there at the top left). Both devices seemed relatively zippy — yes, even the Pixi — though that can naturally change pretty quickly once you’ve got a few cards chugging away. We were delighted to see that Palm loaded our very own Engadget app on their demo devices — a good way for booth stoppers-by to catch up on show news, eh? Check out the gallery below, and keep an eye out for more coverage throughout the day!

Eye-Fi X2 series of 802.11n Class 6 cards ships today, AT&T WiFi hotspots added to the fold

The new Eye-Fi “X2” series we saw at CES is hitting store shelves and FedEx trucks today, bringing with it 802.11n radios, Class 6 SD card speeds, an “Endless Memory” mode, and expanded storage. What’s perhaps even more interesting, however, is the fact that all Eye-Fi cards with an active hotspot account can now use AT&T’s WiFi, which includes Starbucks and McDonald’s in its ever-expanding grasp. The pricing tiers are pure Eye-Fi, of course, with the $50 Connect X2 offering JPEG uploads to sharing sites like Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube, along with 4GB of storage; the $100 Explore X2, which chews 8GB of capacity, and includes geotagging, uploading to the user’s own computer over a WiFi network, and a year of free hotspot service; and finally the Eye-Fi Pro X2, with 8GB of storage, JPEG and RAW uploads, and support for creating ad hoc WiFi connections with a computer, all for the low, low price of $150. All the cards are available today at major retailers, PR is after the break.

Apple no longer requiring proof of AT&T contract for iPhone purchase

reports that Apple has changed the requirements for buying an off-contract iPhone in the USA. US buyers have been able to purchase off-contract iPhones at “list price” for quite some time, but they still had to present proof of an AT&T plan at the time of purchase. That requirement has been removed.

For twenty brief, shining minutes, this sounded like the iPhone was being offered unlocked by Apple, which would have been truly huge news — if you wanted to use the iPhone on another GSM carrier (meaning T-Mobile, in the States), you could have done it without jumping through any extra hoops. According to both 9to5Mac and Engadget, however, it appears those initial reports were incorrect: the iPhone is still locked to AT&T, though according to one source (supposedly an Apple retail employee), “it takes like 2 minutes to unlock them.”

iPhones have been available unlocked in other countries for some time now, but the US is definitely the iPhone’s biggest market. Having the iPhone available for sale unlocked, officially, via Apple, would have been a huge deal. But that day, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to have arrived quite yet.

Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook to run on AT&T’s network?

HP’s first smartbook is due to hit the streets in the next month or so. The Compaq Airlife 100 looks a lot like a typical HP netbook, but it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM-based processor, an integrated 3G modem, and a solid state disk.

Wireless Goodness spotted an FCC listing for the Airlife 100 which mentions that it will support GSM 850 and 900 frequencies as well as WCDMA bands II and V… which happen to be the the bands used by AT&T’s mobile broadband network in the US. So there’s a good chance the Compaq Airlife 100 will be compatible with AT&T’s network at launch. It’s not yet clear whether you’ll have to buy the smartbook from AT&T, or if you’ll be able to pick one up from HP and sign up for an optional 3G data plan from AT&T.

Palm Keeps Pushing, Announces Pixi Plus And Pre Plus For AT&T “In The Coming Months”

Palm may be down, but they’re not out just yet. Following the launch of the Pre and Pixi on Sprint last year and their respective Plus editions on Verizon back in January, Palm has just announced that they’ll soon be launching the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on AT&T.

While its never bad news to get your handsets onto a new carrier, just how good this news is for Palm depends almost entirely on how AT&T handles it.

Palm’s exclusive launch with Sprint came as the carrier was smack-dab in the middle of their never-ending customer bleed, and their debut on Verizon had the unfortunate timing of coming right after VZW had just dumped a monstrous marketing budget into the Motorola Droid. With AT&T expected to only have an exclusive lock on the contract-magnet wunderkind that is the iPhone for another year (and a half, at most), how much time will they put behind properly marketing Palm’s goods?

From a hardware standpoint, the handsets being offered up for AT&T are virtually identical to that which we saw hit Verizon, save the fact that these latest ones are GSM. The Pre Plus has a 3.1″ screen, while the Pixi Plus’ comes in at 2.63″. Both handsets have 802.11b/g WiFi, integrated GPS, and Bluetooth 2.1+.

The software has seen some minor changes. The on-the-fly WiFi router Mobile Hotspot software that debuted on the VZW handsets didn’t make it over. On the upside, Palm threw in a new feature they’re calling “Whisper”, which automatically connects AT&T Hotspot customers to any AT&T WiFi point without requiring them to retype their credentials.

Neither company is saying exactly when to expect the handsets to hit the shelves, outside of “in the coming months.” When they do, the price tag will be set at $149.99 for the Pre Plus and $49.99 for the Pixi Plus, both after an always-annoying $100 mail-in rebate.

AT&T zeroes in on energy waste with Zero cellphone charger

Plug your cell phone charger into the wall. Feel it. Is it warm? Then like it or not, you’re wasting electricity. AT&T would like to change all that with this new Zero charger, a tiny black brick which automatically cuts power to itself whenever your cell phone is disconnected. While it’s not quite as amusing as an ejector seat, it’s certainly more practical, and the wall wart’s modular USB design means you can charge almost any mobile with interchangeable cables (sold separately, of course) while you wait oh-so-patiently for the cellphone industry to finally stop using proprietary ports. If you’ve got a vampire draw problem, let AT&T be your garlic this May.