As part of a slew of Acer announcements during its pre-Mobile World Congress press event, the company has unveiled its first ever Windows Phone 8.1 handset, the Liquid M220. However, it's unlikely to compete too much with Microsoft's more popular Lumia phones as it has a distinctly budget attitude.

The M220 has a 4-inch screen with a 480 x 800 pixel display (233ppi). There's a 1.2GHz dual-core processor inside, with 512MB of RAM, and it has 4GB of storage with a microSD card slot for expansion.

In camera terms, it has a 5-megapixel snapper on the rear and perhaps surprisingly for this classification of phone, it has a 2-megapixel front-facing cam. Normally, budget handsets have front cameras of just 0.3-megapixels.

Another interesting drawer for the cash concious is that the Liquid M220 will be able to be upgraded to Windows 10 when the operating system is pushed by Microsoft.

"We are proudly introducing our first Windows Phone 8.1 and simultaneously announcing its future upgradability to Windows Phone 10," said ST Liew, the company's president of the smartphone business group.

"It is the right moment for Acer to join the Windows Phone eco-system with its growing popularity and consistency across phone and PC devices."

Acer also announced new handsets to expand its Liquid Z-series range and a Leap+ smartband for fitness fans.

READ: Acer Liquid Leap+ fitness band has changeable straps, works with iOS, Android, Windows Phone