LG Mosquito Away phone
The LG K7i is the first major smartphone to feature a built-in mosquito repeller - but does it really work? LG

LG has launched a new India-exclusive mid-range smartphone called the LG K7i. At a glance, the Android handset is a run-of-the-mill device with a budget price tag, but look at little closer and you'll find one of the strangest hardware quirks to ever grace a smartphone.

Dubbed "Mosquito Away", the LG K7i's marquee feature is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – scare off disease-carrying mosquitoes. The phone achieves this using a special cover that adds an ultrasonic wave-emitter to the rear of the device.

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While not exactly a hotbed for mosquito-borne diseases, LG is marketing the phone to potential Indian buyers as an "inaudible, invisible, and odourless" way of keeping the insects away.

The LG K7i costs just 7,990 rupees, which is just over £90. As such the spec sheet isn't much to write home about, beyond the mosquito repeller.

The phone sports a 5in HD display, 16GB of storage, and an 8 megapixel rear camera with a 5 megapixel selfie snapper.

It is powered by an unnamed quad core chipset and 2GB of RAM, which isn't too shabby on paper, but it runs on Android Marshmallow. This means the phone is two OS generations behind, and LG seems to have no plans to upgrade the K7i in the future.

Does it actually work?

LG boasts that the K7i is the "world's first phone with Mosquito Away technology", which isn't exactly the loftiest of claims considering the tech was created by the South Korean company in the first place.

The big question mark, however, is whether or not the technology even works. Despite LG having previously installing its Mosquito Away tech in TVs, washing machines, and various other regionally-sold products, there is plenty of scientific evidence that suggests mosquitoes are not actually repelled by ultrasonic sounds.

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