Vodafone has launched a new own-brand Android smartphone as part of its Vodafone Smart series. The Vodafone Smart Mini is one of the cheapest Android devices around at only £50.

Of course, this basic handset eschews the bells and whistles to land at that price point. The display gives you a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 pixel resolution panel. It's not going to give you a fanstastic experience, but it should handle the basics well enough. The camera is also low resolution, coming in a 2-megapixels.

Under the hood is a 1GHz processor but there's no mention of RAM. There is 4GB of internal storage, although this can be expanded via microSD.

The Vodafone Smart Mini is small, measuring 115 x 62.3 x 12.2mm and weighing 118g.

Although those specs are all rather basic, you get HSDPA connectivity, along with GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Best of all, however, is that the Vodafone Smart Mini runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, so you're getting a pretty up-to-date Android experience from it. You'll be able to take advantage of things like Google Maps Navigation, as well as all the social features like Facebook and Twitter, with all that sharing that Android does so well.

If you've in the market for something cheap and want to see what Android is all about, then the Vodafone Smart Mini might be just for you. Alternatively, if you are after a cheap second handset for those wild nights when your don't want to port your £500 superphone with you, then pick one up.

That Vodafone Smart Mini is available to order from today.