AT&T’s $29.99 Impulse 4G hits stores September 18th

AT&T has announced its new smartphone, the Impulse 4G, will be available on September 18th, 2011. With a contract, the Impulse 4G is just $29.99.

The Impulse 4G a Huawei-sourced Android 2.2 device with a 3.8-inch display and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture.

That just might be the magic number for a phone that isn’t LTE and runs on Android 2.2 (the platform is a bit dated). Perhaps your holiday gift giving dilemma is now solved for grandparents who still don’t have a mobile phone, parents who say smartphones are just too expensive (they typically cost $100 to $300, up to $600 for an iPhone), or your toddler who has an obsession with playing Angry Birds and “calling” grandma.

Last month we thought the Impulse was a Samsung creation, heralding the arrival of AT&T’s LTE network.  It looks strikingly similar to Samsung’s Droid Charge on Verizon. The Impulse 4G from Huawei is a reminder that AT&T’s LTE network hasn’t launched yet. AT&T is still running on the slower HSPA+ network at 14.4Mbps. AT&T launched two LTE devices in August 2011 but they won’t be able to take advantage of the carrier’s LTE network until it actually launches. The company previously said it plans to launch LTE in five cities this summer.