Huawei announced a new phone today for the US, the unlocked and inexpensive Huawei P8 Lite. As the name suggests, this is a slightly trimmed down version of their flagship P8, at least in terms of appearance.

The Huawei P8 Lite is available starting today from retailers like Amazon, B&H Photo, GetHuawei.com, and Target.com for the price of $249. This is an unlocked phone, so we are talking $249 without a contract – you pay for it and it is yours. Huawei is doing a couple of innovative things around service with the P8 Lite, including a 2-year warranty with the phone and an option to finance it, even though it does run just $249.

So why buy the P8 Lite? Well, it carries pretty decent specs for a phone with that low of a price. You have a 5-inch HD (720p) display, 2GB RAM, 1.5GHz Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 2200mAh battery, LTE connectivity on AT&T and T-Mobile, 16GB storage with micro SD support up to 32GB, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat. Yes, it runs KitKat, unfortunately. And I actually have no idea if or when this little guy will see Lollipop.

We have an unboxing and first impressions video on the way, so stay tuned for that.

As I mentioned, the phone is already available from Amazon here. (Other links: B&H Photo | GetHuawei.com)