Looking for Android on a budget?  Lured in by the subsidized prices for today’s Android smartphones, but reluctant to sign up to a new, two-year agreement?  Chinavision’s Robot promises the scratch that itch for you: at $179.10 it’s about the same cost as a regular Android phone, but you’re getting it SIM-free.

Over at The Red Ferret Journal they’ve reviewed the Robot, and as you might expect there are some compromises to hit that price-tag.  For a start there’s no 3G – it’s GSM/EDGE only – and the OS is Android 1.5; the 2.8-inch touchscreen is resistive and runs at 320 x 240 resolution.  Meanwhile the CPU is just 400MHz and the camera only 2-megapixels.  The end result is a phone that isn’t exactly swift, but otherwise the review seems surprisingly positive.

In fact, the Robot feels well put together (even if the style is borrowed a little from the BlackBerry Storm) and the lack of 3G means you get around three days use out of a full charge.  Considering something like the HTC Tattoo still runs to £179.99 ($270), the Chinavision Robot might not be such a bad deal.