To bring some design verve to the smartphone -- which runs the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, known as -- LG gave German fashion house Jil Sander control over the look of the handset. The result is as sleek and elegant as anything produced by the masters of engaging industrial design at Apple.

The black and smoke gray phone with distinctive blue sides has a 3.8-inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels.

Based on a Qualcomm processor running at 1GHz, the svelte mobile measures 4.8 by 2.4 inches and is a twiggy 0.4 inches thick, in the market. Although slightly larger than LG's Optimus 7, it's half an ounce lighter than that model.

It is powered by a 1500mAh battery and offers 16GB of internal storage. The unit also has a back-facing camera for shooting five-megapixel stills and 720p HD video.

The fashionable smartphone also supports DLNA, a European streaming standard; USB 2.0; BlueTooth 2.1; and WiFi; as well as HSDPA 7.2 at 900, 1900, and 2100 MHz.