Robert
Favorite Answer
Most of the time, you can use ANY phone without a contract as long as you pay the full price for the phone. The cheaper price for phones is a benefit you get for signing a contract. Pick out a few phones that you think you'd like, and then buy one from AT&T at full price, or someplace else like eBay and then bring it to AT&T and tell them you'd like to activate the phone on their network.
As for me, I prefer to text on a full, physical, QWERTY keyboard. Some options of phones with full keyboards and cameras on the ATT network can be found here:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/cell-phones.jsp?feacondition=allphones&feapaytype=standard&startFilter=false&allTypes=on&feacamera=camera&feaqwerty=qwerty&allManus=on
Just remember that the prices on this page of the AT&T website are for 2-year contracts. If you like a phone, click on it and it will take you to that phone's page where it will also list the "No Commitment" price of the phone. Good luck!