LG announces X venture - rugged phone with QuickButton

LG has just announced the X venture - its second X line smartphone for 2017. The LG X venture is made to resist the elements thanks to IP68 water and dust protection, and 14 MIL-STD 810G certification for extreme temperatures, shock and water as well as multiple immersions up to 1.5 meters deep.

LG X venture official photo

The X venture is built around a Snapdragon 435 chipset with 2GB of RAM, a 5.2" LCD of 1920 x 1080px resolution and runs Android 7.0 Nougat. There are 32GB of on-board storage, expandable through a microSD card slot. There's a plentiful 4,100mAh battery that LG claims can last 24 hours. Better yet, it can charge from 0% to 50% in only 48 minutes thanks to Quick Charge 2.0.

The main camera has a 16MP sensor while on the front the LG X venture uses a 120-degree 5MP selfie camera, similar to the one on the LG V20.

LG X venture in action

In keeping with its outdoorsy nature the LG X venture has a dedicated side button, called QuickButton, that opens up LG's new Outdoor Essentials app. The app packs a barometer, compass, step/calorie/distance counter, weather information and a flashlight.

The QuickButton is multi-purposed - a short press opens up Outdoor Essentials, a long press prompts the settings menu while a double press will enable Glove Mode. While in Glove Mode the LG X venture will recognize taps and swipes made with gloves on.

Happily the QuickButton can be customized to open any of your favorite apps instead.

LG Outdoor Essentials app

The LG X Venture will go on sale in North America starting today with parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East to follow in the next few weeks.