AT&T stayed away from Android devices for a long time. Presumably, the company didn’t want to risk cannibalizing its important iPhone sales with Android handsets. Over the last several months, however, AT&T has finally started to offer Android devices.

AT&T announced a new Android handset today called the HTC Aria. The device runs Android 2.1 and has a 5-megapixel camera. The screen on the device is a 3.2-inch HVGA unit. The smartphone works on the faster HSPA 7.2Mbps network and can access AT&T's wide network of Wi-Fi hot spots.

“HTC Aria is the first of several smartphones in our Android portfolio to run the 2.1 platform,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “When you combine the nation’s fastest 3G network, and access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, HTC Aria will be one of the best Android smartphones available.”

Boy Genius Report reports that the device will use HTC Sense and has Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Stereo. It also includes A-GPS, a digital compass, G-Sensor, a proximity sensor, 5MP camera with LED flash, and a light sensor.

Other features include full messaging support, email support, IM capability, and Google Talk. The handset can play music and video in multiple formats and the Aria has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Internal storage for the device is 512MB and it has 256MB of RAM. 

Power comes from a 1300mAh battery with talk time of up to 6 hours and standby up to 15.5 days. The Aria weighs 4.6 ounces and measures 4.6 x 2.3 x 0.47 inches. A microSD card slot offers memory expansion and the Aria includes a 2GB microSD card slot.

The handset can be had for $129.99 with a new contract.