LG launched a new smartphone at the India Mobile Congress last week, highlighting a unique technology that no other mobile devices have. While not at par with the latest premium handsets such as the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8, the new LG K7i is said to repel mosquitoes with its special "Mosquito Away" feature.
As reported by The Verge, the LG K7i can be categorized in the low-end budget smartphone brands. The specs of LG K7i can be seen in other standard handsets, such as 5-inch HD display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a quad-core chipset with unknown description.
Some users might even be turned off by the fact that LG K7i will run the Android Marshmallow OS out of the box. With the Android Nougat and Oreo versions now out in many devices, it can be said that the LG K7i is already running behind. LG did not even say if the LG K7i will support the newer Android updates. The one thing that the South Korean tech titan is taking pride in for their latest handset is the reduced risk of users catching malaria, dengue fever, and other mosquito-related diseases – a feature that is quite odd to include in a mobile device.
LG described the "Mosquito Away" feature of LG K7i as a special technology that uses ultrasonic sound waves to repel mosquitoes nearby. To note, LG has already introduced a mosquito repellent feature in some of their products such as air conditioners, television sets, and washing machines.
The sound wave technology that drives away mosquitoes is still up for debate among scientists. As per BBC, there is no solid proof that such mosquito-repelling technology does work. For one, an entomologist from the Dutch Malaria Foundation, Bart Knols, said that there is still "no scientific evidence" that mosquitoes can be disturbed by ultrasound.
The LG K7i is now available in the Indian market with a price of 7,990 rupees, which is equivalent to USD $122. For people residing in other parts of the world and attracted by the smartphone's "Mosquito Away" feature, LG revealed that there are plans to ship the K7i in countries other than India, CNN reported.
