Chinese smartphone maker ZTE, which we believe will be the outfit to watch this year, has released a cut-price Windows 7 smartphone.

Dubbed the ZTE Tania the phone is hitting the shops at £249 if you pay the full price for it. The report said that the spec is respectable for a smartphone.  It has a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, half a gig of RAM and 4GB of storage and a decent resolution 480 x 800 screen for a mid-range phone.  It is not going to set the world on fire but not bad.

But Windows phones have been high end devices and this is the first time we have seen a lower priced smartphone fitting into the Phone 7.5 'Mango' ecosystem. It also means that Microsoft can fit snugly in the cheap and cheerful end of the market which is something many, until now, were expecting.

The phone is on sale through Mobile specialist retailer Clove and it is available for pre-order for £249.99 and should be available on 13 February. At that price, the phone is positioned at those who are not allured by the higher tech Android, but want something simple to use and don't want to sell their children for scientific experiments to own an iPhone.