Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani today unveiled a $1,000 Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone aimed at complementing the designer's suits.

Made by Samsung, the Giorgio Armani phone has both a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard.

It runs on Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 6.5 platform for an improved Internet Explore Mobile browser with Flash support, "MyPhone" backup service and access to applications and games through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

The smartphone also includes a large 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, 5.0-megapixel camera, music and video player, high-speed HSDPA Internet, GPS navigation, 8GB of internal memory, as well as bronze detailing "which coordinates perfectly with Giorgio Armani suits."

The handset is the third phone Armani has designed for Samsung.

Luxury retailers often collaborate with phone makers to add new revenue streams to their company. Rivals Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada have all released handsets.

Even Danish audio maker Bang and Olufsen, Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer and Italian sports car maker Ferrari have added their designs.

Last month, Sony Ericsson announced a tattoo-inspired phone with vintage clothing brand Ed Hardy, while Samsung developed a handset embedded with 126 precision-cut crystals with Swarovski.

Guitar maker Fender announced plans to launch a wood-grain finished smartphone for T-Mobile earlier this week.

The Giorgio Armani-Samsung smartphone will be available in Italy, U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, China and UAE.

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