ZTE USA's $115 entry-level Avid Plus smartphone headed to T-Mobile and MetroPCS

Last year, the answer to the long-standing question of how much smartphone can one get for their money changed in all the right ways. With handsets like the ASUS ZenFone 2, the Moto G, and the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3, one can have a truly decent smartphone for less than $199. ZTE USA, the Chinese mobile company's state-side arm, has clued itself in on the matter.

Priced at just $115, the ZTE Avid Plus runs Android Lollipop and features a 5-inch, 480 x 854-resolution LCD screen with DragonTrail glass for protection against scratches.This resolution is quite low for this screen diagonal, and the visible pixels won't make for a very immersive multimedia experience, but hey, you get what you pay for! The 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera setup isn't particularly impressive either, but it will certainly do the job of capturing a scene or landing a selfie.

The smartphone is powered by a 1.1GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB (4GB or less available to the user) of expandable storage. You won't be running heavy 3D games on this one, but casual games will be playable, Android should operate reasonably smoothly, and there's LTE Cat 4 connectivity for fast speeds. Also, ZTE took advantage of the Avid Plus' footprint and stuck a 2300mAh battery in its shell, which should make for pretty good battery life, given the modest spec sheet.

Although the Avid Plus doesn't come across as awfully generous, it nevertheless appears to be a solid handset from the low-end side. It will be offered to T-Mobile subscribers from Jan 20, and MetroPCS subscribers "soon".