Lenovo looks to be cooking a mid-range Android phone with the Midas touch

Lenovo Golden Warrior S8
Can this warrior put up a fight?

Lenovo is still a smartphone unknown in many parts of the world, but in its native China, the new owner of Motorola Mobility has been taking names and kicking butt on the high end, and now it appears poised to do the same for cheaper handsets as well.

Android Headlines caught wind (via WebTrek) of a new Android smartphone on the way from Lenovo, and this one appears aimed squarely at buyers on a budget, despite the handset's classy looks and scrappy name.

The so-called Golden Warrior S8 may sound like poorly-dubbed kung fu film straight out of the '70s, but it's reportedly the name of Lenovo's latest attempt to release a smart-looking, big-screen handset with mid-range specs.

As the name implies, the Golden Warrior S8 features an attractive gilded casing and is said to pack 13MP rear-facing and 5MP front-facing cameras, but that appears to be where the really good news ends.

Auric champion

Judging from the internal specs, Lenovo's foray into mid-tier devices isn't exactly a walk on the wild side, such as the the 5.3-inch display which features a decidedly "meh" resolution of 1280 x 720.

The whole package is tied down by what's referred to as a "mediocre" octa-core MediaTek MT6592 CPU saddled to Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, which isn't exactly a slouch but is certainly no longer the freshest candy in the cupboard, either.

Consumers certainly won't mistake this handset for Lenovo's coveted K900, but given the rumored price of roughly $130 (about £78, AU$138), they may not ultimately care all that much.

No word on when Lenovo may unleash its budget-minded Golden Warrior S8 upon an unsuspecting world, but judging from the leaked press images, a formal announcement shouldn't be too far away.