Xiaomi's $80 Android smartphone goes on sale -- here's what you get

There are lots of options available for those in the market for a low-end smartphone, but few are truly exciting and worth considering. Poor camera performance is to be expected in this segment, but a decent screen and adequate performance are must-haves, in my book.

Chinese maker Xiaomi has a very appealing low-end smartphone in the form of Redmi 2A. It just went on sale, as an affordable alternative to Redmi 2, costing as little as $80 off-contract. For that kind of money, it sure comes with all the right features a prospective buyer might be looking for.

The most attractive thing about Redmi 2A is its screen. The smartphone ships with a 4.7-inch panel, that is neither small nor too big, with a high, for this segment, 720 by 1,280 resolution. In case you are wondering, that translates to a pixel density of 312 ppi (pixels per inch), which is just shy of the iPhone 6's 326 ppi.

Redmi 2A is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Leadcore L 1860C processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 2,200 mAh battery. The smartphone ships with 8 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded by a further 32 GB using a microSD card. This amount of storage should be more than enough for the average user. Naturally, it runs Android, version 5.0 Lollipop, featuring Xiaomi's typical customizations on top.

On the back, Redmi 2A is equipped with an 8 MP camera, while on the front of the device sits a 2 MP shooter. Neither is likely to offer performance matching mid-rangers or high-end smartphones, but they cover the basics.

For this kind of money, Redmi 2A even supports 4G LTE cellular networks, which is something that few smartphones in this segment can boast. Wi-Fi support is for 802.11 b/g/n networks.

Finally, Redmi 2A comes in five color options, namely gray, green, pink, white and yellow. The smartphone is currently offered only in China, which is the only bad news so far. Hopefully, Xiaomi will bring it to international markets, as the low-end smartphone market certainly needs this kind of competition.