Every living being put to the surface of this planet serves some purpose. They may not be needed directly to us humans, but all living creatures do provide something to their fellow creatures. Except, maybe, mosquitoes! What good are those disease spreading parasites anyway? They are hardly crucial to any life form, and we all wish that they may be wiped off the surface of the planet. Jittawadee Murphy, a researcher who has studied storms of mosquitoes for more than 20 years, shares the same sentiment. You can be as scared of sharks and spiders as you wish, but these tiny mosquitoes are the deadliest of all creatures as they kill millions of people every year by spreading various diseases.
The feeble and helpless humans cannot kill the mosquitoes on the entire planet, so we choose repellents to save us from the wrath of these killers. We get repellent lotions, sprays, mosquito nets, and what not! However, we never thought of adding this feature to our smartphones. Our devices come packed with tons of features. Some of them are amazing, but others? They are just super useless. LG, the Korean electronics manufacturer, has just revealed the world’s first mosquito repellent smartphone that uses ultrasound waves to protect you from the bloodsucking predators.
Revealed at the India Mobile Congress last week, the phone named LG K7i is bound to become a best seller in mosquito-infested countries. The budget smartphone may lack a little in its technical specs, but the “Mosquito Away” feature is a big attraction for all the haters of mosquitoes.
Many other LG gadgets like TV sets and air conditioners come with the Mosquito Away feature, and neither of them requires any chemicals and refills. A speaker on the back of the phone pumps out 30 KHz ultrasonic waves that are safe for humans, but the mosquitoes do not like it. A special rear cover comes with K7i so you can set up your phone at your desk whenever you want to use the Mosquito Away feature.
India is the first country to get their hands on this super smartphone. If you live elsewhere, the LG K7i is not for you yet. The company is considering to launch this phone in other countries as well but in the future. There is another major problem; it is not even proven that ultrasonic waves do any good to keep the pesky parasites away. The American Mosquito Control Association states,
“The fact is that these devices just do not work.”
Ouch! On the other hand, LG claims that their Mosquito Away technology had passed many tests before it got certified by India’s International Institute of Biotechnology and Toxicology. It was proved that it keeps about 72% of mosquitoes away during testing.
Each year, India spends more than $700 million only on home insecticides. This smartphone sounds like the perfect product for this market. Time will tell whether this feature is any good or not.
