EE has announced a new addition to its bird-named handsets with the launch of the Rook.

The Rook joins the line-up that includes the Harrier and Harrier Mini, but this model is available for just £49 for new customers, or £39 for existing customers.

EE boast that this is the cheapest 4G handset you'll find and it certainly won't cost you much. However, don't mistake this for the latest all-singing and all dancing smartphone.

It's powered by a quad-core MediaTek chipset with 1GB of RAM, so it should be reasonable at day-to-day tasks. There's 8GB of internal storage, with microSD support for cards up to 32GB.

The cameras pair a 5-megapixel rear camera with a 0.3-megapixel front camera. There's no autofocus and there's no flash.

The display is a 4-inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution, which is a bit of a leap back to the 2010 and likely to be the biggest weakness of this handset as it's a little lacking.

It does have the latest version of Android, however, so that's up to date, even if the 1500mAh battery is a little on the low side.

There have been some great handsets recently at the more affordable end of the market, opening up smartphones for those who don't have the big bucks to spend, or don't want an expensive monthly contract.

The appeal is the cheap connection to EE's 4G network, but if you can scrape together a little more, you might find that the Moto E offers you more for your money. 

The Rook is available from EE immediately.