Android gets fashionable

Samsung and Giorgio Armani are making another go at creating a designer cell phone, reports Women's Wear Daily. Like their original collaboration, the Samsung Armani, the new handset will offer a touch screen and multimedia features, but it will ditch Windows Mobile 6.5, Armani's operating system of choice on last year's Samsung smartphone, in favor of Android. Say goodbye also to the full keyboard and tilting design.

Though the new model is part of the Galaxy S series--it's a dead ringer for AT&T's Captivate--we weren't expecting it to be so understated. With the black color and small Armani logo, it lacks some of the gold embellishments found on its predecessors.

The feature set, on the other hand, isn't surprising. Inside you'll find the standard Galaxy S offerings including a 5-megapixel camera, a multimedia player, e-mail, a 1Ghz processor, and 16GB of internal memory. And, of course, the 4-inch display is super-AMOLED. We don't know which version of Android it will run, but Eclair (2.1) is the most likely candidate.

Starting next month the handset will debut in Giorgio Armani boutiques and other retailers in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Spain, Russia, and the Netherlands. Be warned that it carries a hefty price tag of 700 euros, or about $965. No one ever said fashion came cheap.