British mobile phone operator 3 UK has launched Chinese manufacturer ZTE’s Android-based handset, dubbed the Racer.

ZTE has equipped the Racer with a 2.8-inch touchscreen display that offers a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels, a 3.2-megapixel camera and HSDPA connectivity. The handset also comes with a 2GB microSD card, but it lacks flash.

Orange and T-Mobile have already been selling cheaper touchscreen handsets, but they all come with entry level operating systems such as the Qualcomm Brew rather than Android.

Wu Sa, the director of mobile device operations ZTE UK, said that they decided to run the Racer on Android 2.1 rather than Android 2.2 because they wanted to keep the phone affordable for customers.

The Racer will be the first Android-powered handset that is being offered for less than £100 on PAYG.

It is also available for purchase for as little as £13 on a month two- year contract. The cheapest contract offers 300 anytime, any network minutes or texts along with 500MB of data on a two year contract.