Develop Bugs

[Q] Screen dead spots after a dunk

I dunked my phone in water but rescued it quickly and dried it out. The phone mostly works except for two dead spots where the W and S keys are in portrait mode. (When I press each of these keys, they register either or both of the letters next to them on the keyboard.) I have the same problem whether using the stock or swype keyboard.
I will dry the phone out more, between uses to see if ridding the phone of any excess moisture helps.
Any ideas on the problem and solution?
I don't have TEP. Given that the phone is rooted and probably has wet damage indications, would Sprint repair the screen or digitizer if I paid the $35? The phone is five weeks old.
If not, would self-repair with a digitizer bought off the internet likely fix the problem? Or is the problem likely to be elsewhere upstream of the digitizer?
TIA

dynamicpda said:
I don't have TEP. Given that the phone is rooted and probably has wet damage indications, would Sprint repair the screen or digitizer if I paid the $35? The phone is five weeks old.
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No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.

entropism said:
No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.
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Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.

dynamicpda said:
Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.
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Yeah, these screens don't do too well with the least bit of water/moisture on them. As long as you dried it thoroughly you should be in the clear. Glad to hear it worked out

Taking a shower and streaming pandora not a good idea then?

Out of curiosity, where is the moisture indicator sticker on the Evo?

SolsticeZero said:
Out of curiosity, where is the moisture indicator sticker on the Evo?
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There is a few of them that I know of. One is on the battery, another on the back under the battery cover and a third buried somewhere in the phone.

dynamicpda said:
Thanks for the reply. I dried it a few hours more with the dessicant and the problem seems to have fixed itself. We'll see if it stays fixed.
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Click to collapse
Usually, and I mean usually, these things are dried for a couple of days. With batteries pulled.
Get access to a real desiccator with something like Drierite, have them suck all the all air out with a water aspirator, and leave it in for a few hours.
That ought to do it.

I went Jet Skiing with my EVO a while back, and got it completely soaked. The phone went completely dead, so I took out the battery and let it dry. After drying in the sun for a while, I turned it on, and it was able to boot, but my entire screen was a different color with blotches of water marks. I tried drying it out in the sun some more, putting it in rice, you name it. Nothing worked, but it ended up fixing itself after a few days. The water marks just slowly went away, now it is completely back to normal. I hope its the same case with yours. My EVO has the OLED screen, not the Super LCD.

Has nobody here learned the "bag of rice" trick? Put a handful or two of dry rice into a ziplock bag. Take your battery out of your phone, leave the cover off and put all of it in the bag of rice. Leave it for 24 hours. It's worked for everyone I know almost every time.
Now, jetskiing with your phone might be a bit much, but it'll fix a phone dropped in a toilet and rescued fairly quickly.

The dead zone problem came back and now I have discovered it is a whole strip running up and down the length of the screen pass through the W and S keys in portrait mode; if I use the phone in landscape mode with the keyboard on that side, the whole lower strip of keys do not work. (The temp solution is the type in landscape on the other side.)
I drove to the market the moment it happened and got instant rice to dry it out in. Later I got Damp-Rid from Home Depot.
I haven't seen a real dessicator since chem lab back in college. I do have a food saver vacuum sealer.... if i could find the missing hose part I lost!
One other problem with the display is it being washed out and streaky (vertically) sometimes upon boot. This started happening BEFORE the dunk; I'm still seeing it from time to time. Rebooting once or twice usually fixes it.

Man I hope your phone recovers! Stories like this make me sad.
Sent from my Full Android using XDA App

nabbed said:
Usually, and I mean usually, these things are dried for a couple of days. With batteries pulled.
Get access to a real desiccator with something like Drierite, have them suck all the all air out with a water aspirator, and leave it in for a few hours.
That ought to do it.
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Click to collapse
nabbed, that's brilliant. i've been using Damp-Rid, your aspirator idea led me to use the Food Saver system to speed the drying proces. I stuck the phone and damp rid dessicant in a FS food container and sucked all the air out. I'll leave it overnight and see what happens.

LearnIIBurn said:
Man I hope your phone recovers! Stories like this make me sad.
Sent from my Full Android using XDA App
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I use to laugh at phone who dunked their phone until it happened to me, I understood. We love our phones too much; it's a constant part of our lives.
Boundaries must be drawn!

xHausx said:
There is a few of them that I know of. One is on the battery, another on the back under the battery cover and a third buried somewhere in the phone.
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I lost the official red battery. Been using replacements. And I didn't pay attention to the moisture indicators before the accident, so I don't know any color changes. I just see several red stickers on the red plastic inside the phone. The only obvious water indicator is a slightly opaque plastic chamber that seems to have a rubber gasket around it. It's located to the right of the camera. When the phone was wet you could see water sloshing inside. Now that the phone is largely dry, you can see a few small droplets. It doesn't seem to have another purpose other than to hold water.

That small chamber your talking about is the speaker. If you play music and put your finger over it, you'll lose almost all sound.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Why dont you have insurance? You a retail $450 phone rooted and no insurance.

entropism said:
No, they won't. Once it hits liquid, the store won't touch it at all.
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That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.

letshaveDEX said:
That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.
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I think you mean TEP, and no it is not $100 for a replacement screen. For a non liquid damaged phone it is Free with any ESRP or TEP on the account.
IF, any customer has not been paying the $4 for ESRP or the $7 for TEP the repair fee is $35 for screen repair with the option to add TEP after repair...but again...not for liquid damage. Liquid damage is something we do not repair around or for, we consider the phone Damaged Beyond repair and set you up with the # and website for Asurion insurance for the replacement.
The plans changed around 4 months back.

letshaveDEX said:
That is only if you don't have TES.
Also, to buy a new screen it costs $100, even if you have TES or not. Sucks major balls.
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OK, let me clarify: Like I said before, if you have TEP or not, the STORE will not touch a liquid damaged phone. You can order a replacement phone through Asurion for $100 if you do have TEP, you're ****ed if you don't.

[Q] Dropped my HTC Desire Z in the water

(I know there is some topics here in similar subject, but I'm having desire z with lid structure and the phone was in the water only for a short time)
I know it's not smart to take expensive smart phone to toilet with you, especially when the phone is on your hand. Well, I wen't to take a leak and the phone slipped off my left hand and dropped straight to the dirty water in the toilet seat. Picked it up immediately, it was in the water about 1-3 seconds.
The screen was on before getting wet and turned immediately off, the lights on front flashed couple of seconds and I took battery and simcard out immediately. Shaked it a bit and tried to dry it with paper and left it on the towel which was on the warm radiator.
I have googled now a long time and got very different solutions... I'm not going to try any of them since some of the solutions are clearly by trolls. I'm not going to put my phone to the water or sack of rice, I'm not going to use hair dryer since I don't have one. I don't think I have rice either...
What is to be done here? Is my phone dead and gone... ? I had it about a month and I'm scared if it doesn't work any more. I use it both in work and home and this is really bad situation for me.
I made first mistake and tried turn the phone on too soon, about under an hour since the accident. As soon as I put the battery on I got the dim orange led light, the screen was black. When pressed the power button it vibrated three (3) times and nothing happened. I then took the battery and SIM off again and put it back on the radiator. Now I'm going to have it there until tomorrow morning I go to work. If it's still not working, I have to use my Nokia E90 since I get it fixed or.... I have to buy the new phone... damn it.
While waiting, any solutions available? Warranty is not covering this for sure.
And please, do not start conversation about "why phone in the toilet?" or things like that. The accident already happened and there is no point thinking "why"? I learned my lesson and this is the first time in my gadget history when something dumb like this happens... I feel like I have won in the lottery, same chances...
I had rooted Virtuous and I'm from Finland if it counts something...

rollex said:
I have googled now a long time and got very different solutions... I'm not going to try any of them since some of the solutions are clearly by trolls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What makes you so sure? Don't knock the bag of rice trick. A ton of people on here have advocated its use, and swear by it. Its supposedly a natural desiccant. Rice is cheap, and it really can't hurt at this point, can it?

The "dirty water" might contain salt... if so the salt will short out the components ... I had a old WM 6 phone that dropped in to the ocean.
The keypad for it stopped working had to take it apart and clean off the salt from the ribbons and components, you can clean with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol (worked fine after that).
Whatever you do don't use a blow dryer it will melt the components in your phone.
Try letting it dry naturally. or the Rice Idea.

The rice is not a trick -- it really works for getting the moisture out.

luckye Smartphones are not so expensive these days.
If I dropped my phone in the toilet I would get a new phone for exsmpe a HTC Sensation 1.2GHz dual-core, qHD display, and Sense 3.0 or evo 3D

Thanks for the comments! @redpoint73, Some of the tips sounded really bizarre to me, like dropping the phone again to full bowl or glass of water or even alcohol, letting it fully drown to water and alcohol and leave it there for certain amount of time...? or put it in the freezer for hours? or in the oven for too long time? what??
Now when I think of it, the white rice sounds ok. But I still don't feel that easy to use the tip even if I could borrow the neighbour's.
I decided from the start I let it dry naturally. It seems very dry from outside, not much water came out from the start and it was "under water" (I don't think it fully drowned even yet) only 1-3 secs like I said, that's why I tried it on in the first place... my mistake.
I hope I have not bricked the phone. I will keep you posted.

rollex said:
Now when I think of it, the white rice sounds ok. But I still don't feel that easy to use the tip even if I could borrow the neighbour's.
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Let me ask you this: is it easier than buying a new phone???

redpoint73 said:
Let me ask you this: is it easier than buying a new phone???
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Nice question, got me thinking. I meant there is just too much those answers around "just let it dry naturally" and because this is new situation for me I try to avoid damaging it more, which I've may have already done by trying to start it again, but anyways, doh...
Anyways, I found basmati/eastern white rice and put it to rice bag on the rice. I'm afraid it might get inside the phone. The phone will now be on the rice overnight.

enp82003 said:
The "dirty water" might contain salt... if so the salt will short out the components ...
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If there were piss or similar, it contains sulfuric acid and other mild acids. That might not have very good effect to htc desire z electronics...

stian230 said:
luckye Smartphones are not so expensive these days.
If I dropped my phone in the toilet I would get a new phone for exsmpe a HTC Sensation 1.2GHz dual-core, qHD display, and Sense 3.0 or evo 3D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What toilet did you drop your G2 in? *grabs gloves*
if you saw $100 in a toilet would you pull it out?

rollex said:
Nice question, got me thinking. I meant there is just too much those answers around "just let it dry naturally" and because this is new situation for me I try to avoid damaging it more, which I've may have already done by trying to start it again, but anyways, doh...
Anyways, I found basmati/eastern white rice and put it to rice bag on the rice. I'm afraid it might get inside the phone. The phone will now be on the rice overnight.
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Click to collapse
yeah trying to power it on prob wasn't the best idea... sorry for the generic trying to let it dry naturally if you don't have rice. I am just going by my own experiences with cell phones the last 10 years since back when Nokia Candy bar style phone were the norm. If you just let it naturally dry for a day with the battery out and then try turning it back there is a 70% chance it might turn back on.
"60% of the time it works every time "

I would take the battery out, then leave the phone in a bowl of pure alcohol
After a couple of minutes swishing it around I would leave it in a bowl of rice to get ALL of the moisture out

enp82003 said:
if you saw $100 in a toilet would you pull it out?
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Click to collapse
I see the workings of a new candid camera or punked or some sort of tv show with this idea... XD
But that sucks, man. Good luck. I hope the phone doesn't smell after this.

Soaking it in isopropyl alcohol 99% will clean all of the electronics and draw out the water and piss.
Then bury it in a bag of white rice for 24 hours, alcohol evaporates extremly fast, but after 24 she should be clean and dry.
I say this because I am an electronic tech by trade and have used this method successfully numerous times. The even better thing to do is to completly disemble the phone, clean with alcohol and dry but most people find it easier to just drop it in a bowl then a bag of rice.
Good luck dude
Sent from my HTC Desire Z/G2 using XDA Premium App

Okay, it has been in the rice now overnight and everything works except the touch screen. I put it back to rice and let it be there for a days or so, in the mean time I think I will call my local store and ask what to do. And tell my boss (I use this phone as work as well). I have to use my old Nokia while gettin the solution...
Thanks for the precious tips!

ptesmoke said:
Soaking it in isopropyl alcohol 99% will clean all of the electronics and draw out the water and piss.
Then bury it in a bag of white rice for 24 hours, alcohol evaporates extremly fast, but after 24 she should be clean and dry.
I say this because I am an electronic tech by trade and have used this method successfully numerous times. The even better thing to do is to completly disemble the phone, clean with alcohol and dry but most people find it easier to just drop it in a bowl then a bag of rice.
Good luck dude
Sent from my HTC Desire Z/G2 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
Sorry had to ask ever since i heard this idea... submerging it in a bowl with alcohol.... wouldn't that kill the screen? since the screen it's liquid crystals? Sorry ahead of time for not understanding...

enp82003 said:
... submerging it in a bowl with alcohol.... wouldn't that kill the screen?
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Click to collapse
I was thinking exactly the same, but was too afraid to ask it

Screen should be sealed..
Sent from my HTC Desire Z/G2 using XDA Premium App

Wow, my first post here gets to be about dropping my G1 in the toilet.
Except my G1 sat in the bottom of the toilet for a good 2 hours. Let me tell you, that was quite the shocking discovery when I went back in the bathroom to take a leak! Well after 2 hours of sitting in water I wrote it off and headed straight out and got my G2. I did immediately pull the battery out and rinsed it off under fresh water and wiped it down with disinfectant. When I got back from purchasing the G2 I put the G1 in a bowl of rice and it sat there for at least 3 days before I thought to try turning it on. And of course it works flawlessly now.
The key I thing is that I didn't even bother trying to see if it still worked by powering it on after a few hours. Made that mistake with prior phones, and that is probably what kills most phones that have been submerged. So resist the temptation to check and see if it still works and just let it sit in a covered bowl of rice for a few days.
My 8 year old now plays with the G1 which she calls the "toilet phone". :d

ptesmoke said:
Screen should be sealed..
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Click to collapse
You have to know exactly what you're doing before trying it... for me it sounds too dangerous.
I have decided to let my phone be in rice bag until Thursday morning, if it does not work by then I will boot it to recovery mode and nandroid backup all my data and then take it to repair service... I hope it works and it does not cost much...
Thanks for hanging with me.

Evo temp..

I recently got water inside my screen. The phone still worked, but you could see the water blur when the screen was on. I turned the phone off, removed the battery, and put the phone on my dashboard with the defroster running hot. Not SO hot, but on the cold-warm-hot dial, I had it just past the mid point of warm, and at 2 of the 4 fan speed settings.
I left it on there for about 30 minutes, and now I've just taken it off. The phone was really hot, (remember, it was also OFF with the battery removed). It wasnt much hotter than it gets on the charger, maybe MAYBE 10 degrees hotter. I can hold it to my cheek without hurting. Just wondering if this is bad for the phone, or if anything could have been damaged. I'm waiting for it to cool back down before I try turning it back on.

Can't really say until you turn it back on. If it turns on and works as it should, no harm done.
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app.

Think of it this way, the phone is used to being hot, but not to having moisture in it
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App

ok I turned it on and it booted up fine, but the screen is still whacked out looking. Truth is, I installed the new screen protector and used a LOT of the applicator spray to get it just right. I guess it seeped into the speaker and/or sides or wherever and got under the screen.
Should I put it back on the defroster?

When I had my Blackberry, I would put it in a dish full of rice overnight. The rice would extract the moisture. I have not tried it with my EVO, but I would *assume* the same results.
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app.

I had the same issue with my EVO. My kid had been using it as a teething toy and eventually got water behind the screen. I tried heating it up and drying it on heat vents in my house. It didn't work. Ended up paying $100 to get it fixed. Maybe you'll have better luck.
Sent from my grubby hand

jasongthang said:
ok I turned it on and it booted up fine, but the screen is still whacked out looking. Truth is, I installed the new screen protector and used a LOT of the applicator spray to get it just right. I guess it seeped into the speaker and/or sides or wherever and got under the screen.
Should I put it back on the defroster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done that twice. Lol sucks glass seal wasn't good for me.

Well, after 2 hours on the defroster, nothing has changed. The brightness continually flickers low to high, and the streaks just make it look like crap.
If this doesnt dry itself out by morning. I'll call sprint. I'm REALLY not wanting to pay $100 for it to be fixed. The evo 3d is starting to look nice..

The evo 3d does sound nice if you can wait that long.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App

dougjamal said:
When I had my Blackberry, I would put it in a dish full of rice overnight. The rice would extract the moisture. I have not tried it with my EVO, but I would *assume* the same results.
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Listen to this guy. It works.

biglilsteve said:
Listen to this guy. It works.
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Click to collapse
Thank you, Steve. Let's hope it works for the OP, too....Take care...
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app.

The rice did not work. Unless brown rice has different characteristics. I left it in a pan of rice with the cover on, no change at all.
I called Sprint today, they made a ticket up, etc., so either today or tomorrow I'll go to the store. I could hardly understand what the guy was saying, but I did pick up the words "replace" and "$35". It would be nice if it was a new phone, but I'm hoping for at least the screen replaced, with no crazy charges or anything. my back speaker is getting really bad and I had been waiting for it to get worse before I made a claim, hopefully I can get that taken care of as well.

Yes definitely put in a sealed container of rice. Rice absorbs moisture. Better yet, if you have any silica packets out of shoe boxes, toss those in a sealed box with your phone. Both absorb moisture out of things better than trying to evaporate and possibly damage your phone.

I put it in a sealed container of Sprint techs.
I took it in today, they replaced the screen AND the rear speaker, and it was only $35. Very quick and easy, and they even just billed it to my account.
I can tell they scratched the new screen though. I wish I had noticed it before I left.

I told myself that if it was going to be any more than $35, I would just buy the tools off of that ifixit.com site and replace the screen myself.

[Q] Question about water damage

So my GS3 fell into the toilet last night at about 3am (totally freaked out) and immediately broke it down and put it in rice. Took it out after about 6 hours and it turns on, but the screen doesn't really work. It'll flicker and I couldn't answer a call. Anyways, I'm wondering if T-MO's insurance (Asurion) will cover it? The store isn't open yet and I wanna know like, now lol. If not, does Samsung have a manufacturers warranty or something? If they both cover it, which will cost me less and get me another phone faster?

Well you going to have to pay around 130 if you got insurance. But dropping your phone is totally your fault so ain't no way around paying that money
Sent from T mobile galaxy s3 (24mbs down) 4g network

Rice doesn't work btw. Use 90 percent or more rubbing alcohol as that drives out water. My brother went swimming with his one phone and I put it in rubbing alcohol for like 30 minutes and dried it using a hair dryer and it worked perfectly. Rubbing alcohol is non conductive so it doesn't short anything out plus it dries insanely fast.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
Rice doesn't work btw. Use 90 percent or more rubbing alcohol as that drives out water. My brother went swimming with his one phone and I put it in rubbing alcohol for like 30 minutes and dried it using a hair dryer and it worked perfectly. Rubbing alcohol is non conductive so it doesn't short anything out plus it dries insanely fast.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I've had a lot of luck with both, but when I use rice I don't take it out after only six hours.. it's more of a twelve hour deal.

I used rice every time once swimming and once after the phone went into the washer with my pants.
And to clear up the blow dryer best not to put on any heat cause that may cause damage to the phone... so I've read.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

mt3g said:
I used rice every time once swimming and once after the phone went into the washer with my pants.
And to clear up the blow dryer best not to put on any heat cause that may cause damage to the phone... so I've read.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if you are using a blow dryer use "low" or "cool" as the setting.

I put in a claim and paid $130 for a replacement. Should arrive today. I put it back in the rice for another 12 hours or so and it works. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well. So far I've had a couple random reboots, the sounds chops up every once in a while (only notifications so far, not video/music/calls) and the flash usually flashes real quick when opening the camera app and sometimes instagram. If anyone is interested in buying it, let me know. T-Mo, blue, 16gb

beanboi said:
I put in a claim and paid $130 for a replacement. Should arrive today. I put it back in the rice for another 12 hours or so and it works. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well. So far I've had a couple random reboots, the sounds chops up every once in a while (only notifications so far, not video/music/calls) and the flash usually flashes real quick when opening the camera app and sometimes instagram. If anyone is interested in buying it, let me know. T-Mo, blue, 16gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be blacklisted since you filed a claim.
Sent from my SGH-T999

You could part it out though. Digitizer, glass, Motherboard/USB, battery back for that guy the other day complaining about his.
Easily get back your $130 just by selling digitizer and glass.
Also, I've used distilled H2O as it is less corrosive. But since you got the new one, this is for anyone in the future that reads.

Woodrube said:
You could part it out though. Digitizer, glass, Motherboard/USB, battery back for that guy the other day complaining about his.
Easily get back your $130 just by selling digitizer and glass.
Also, I've used distilled H2O as it is less corrosive. But since you got the new one, this is for anyone in the future that reads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also true. Most people are not aware you can separate the digitizer and the glass, so you can undercut everyone on eBay and still make a decent profit.
Sent from my SGH-T999

Woodrube said:
You could part it out though. Digitizer, glass, Motherboard/USB, battery back for that guy the other day complaining about his.
Easily get back your $130 just by selling digitizer and glass.
Also, I've used distilled H2O as it is less corrosive. But since you got the new one, this is for anyone in the future that reads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
joshnichols189 said:
This is also true. Most people are not aware you can separate the digitizer and the glass, so you can undercut everyone on eBay and still make a decent profit.
Sent from my SGH-T999
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Click to collapse
Sweet. How would I go about separating everything? Also, how much would each piece go for? And does anybody know of anyone that wants to buy these parts?

beanboi said:
Sweet. How would I go about separating everything? Also, how much would each piece go for? And does anybody know of anyone that wants to buy these parts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that there was a teardown floating around here but it might be on one of the other SGS3 variants. Anyways, you could probably YouTube it and find out.
Only advice I could give would be to have a single drink/smoke/chant/whatever to get your nerves calm and have a delicate touch/ The digitizer is extremely important. I once bought a Vibrant from a guy (I needed the motherboard) who was a little heavy handed and cracked it top-to-bottom with almost no effort.
Just check Ebay for prices and unfortunately you can't sell it here on in the forums, but you can sell it in the MarketPlace, if you have all the pre-reqs.
Good luck.

Water Damage

We've all seen the various posts of HELP I HAVE WATER DAMAGE. In fact a global search of XDA will net you with a LOT of posts asking for help.
Everything from I dropped it in the snow, to my kid put it in the toilet, and my personal favorite, I was listening to music while in the shower and it vibrated itself into the toilet. :good:
But in all these cases the poster is asking what to do, their beloved device won't power on and they have something "important" that they forgot to back up and need off of the device.
I've seen such things as put it into a bag of rice (usually about a 25% chance of recovery), and wrap it in paper towels. Even 1 suggested to put it in the microwave.
Lets put some of these myth's do rest shall we. Lets start with the microwave. DUDE WTH are you thinking? Electronics, microwave, BAD IDEA! No ten seconds, no 5 seconds, not even 1 second. You are just begging for BAD to happen, DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!
Wrap the device in paper towels, while YES paper towels are absorbent, they are NOT going to get the water out from the inside of the device, no matter how "open" you have it.
Putting the device in a bag or jar of flour. AGAIN BAD IDEA! While YES flour is very good at pulling moisture it is just going to cake up and actually cause even MORE damage to the device.
Hair dryer, Ok this does have SOME merit, but again heat to an electronic device is not something that you REALLY want. Especially with many devices being made of plastic now days. This will end up with permanent fogging of the glass and render the device virtually unusable.
Rice Rice Baby....duh nah nuh nuh nah nuh nuh, put it in a bag of white rice baby. Rice is a FOOD, while it does react to water well, it is not a very good idea, but then again it is a FAR CRY better then the ones above. This could work, but I would rather leave the device as open to the air as possible and let it air dry for a week then put an electronic device into a bag of rice.
Silica Jell, Silica Jell WILL pull moisture out of the air, and in fact in an enclosed space such as a zip locking bag, they work VERY WELL at pulling moisture out of electronic devices. Now I've heard of complaints about how expensive these little baggies are to the average consumer, but NO they are not.
You say you can't afford to buy silica jell packs? Well why not? Many of you are married, and have had to take that HORRID trip to the shoe store. Instead of just playing with your phone or what ever, while your wife is off looking at some new pumps or heels that she "needs," go up to a store clerk and ask them if they have any of the little bags of silica sitting around. Tell them what you need it for, and 9 out of 10 times you will walk out of the shoe store with not just new shoes for your wife, but a FREE insurance policy for your beloved electronic devices.
Hit up several shoe stores, get yourself a bag full of them. Get them home and hide them away. I prefer to put them into a vacuum seal jar and vacuum seal the jar closed. This does a couple things. It keeps the silica jell from absorbing any free moisture in the air, and often makes it so that little hands won't mess with them. All in all you want about 200 of the little baggies. WHY. Because I told you to, no really the reason is, that some will already be full, and others will not, you just never know for certain.
When that inevitable moment comes that you need to recover from your arse hole brother in law pushing you into the pool with your new device, open that jar up, grab a zip locking type bag, drop your device in it, then cover that sucker with all you can fit. Leave your device in the bag for AT LEAST 3 days with the battery out and all in the bag. let those little insurance policies do their job for you. There is of course a level of failure in this but it is by far more effective then any of the above posted "methods."
I did a personal test over the last 2 weeks with an old HTC Tilt. That dad burned thing has been sitting in my desk for a couple years now BEGGING to have something done to it. Well now it did.
I filled a mixing bowl with water and turned the phone on, and waited for it to get done booting up. Once it was done I dropped it into the bowl and waited 5 seconds. Reached in, grabbed it out and yanked the back off and took the battery out. Put the phone, battery, back and all into a zip locking type bag, and removed the sim card and sd card. Opened up my handy dandy jar of silica jell packs and poured them into the bag.
I zipped it closed and left the phone in there for 5 days. Pulled it out, and looked over the phone. YES the water indicator had been tripped I put the battery back in, put the back on, put in the sim card, and pressed the power button. Then out of no where I heard my phone come to life, and the screen was just fine. The phone has been sitting plugged into a wall socket and left on for 5 days now. So far no issues, not even a speaker issue.
After I pulled the Tilt out of the bag, I decided WHY NOT, and dropped my old Tilt 2 into a bowl of water and did the same thing. And now, it too is sitting plugged in to a wall socket and left on for a couple days. Only issue with it so far is that it OCCASIONALLY has a bit of "static" with certain alert tones.
So here I sit with a 100% success rate for 2 devices intentionally put into what would normally be the end of life for an electronic device.
So do yourself a favor, and get a bunch of those little baggies and save them up for when you need them. I would however recommend replacing the ENTIRE LOT of them every few months, even if you have them vacuum sealed. Why, because i told you to. No, really, it is because everything has some sort of expiration. Better to keep them refreshed then to find out that you didn't change them out 2 years ago and they absorbed all the moisture out of the air in the bathroom where you hid them.

Rice is hygroscopic and works just fine as a drying agent since you're not drying your phone for a month. better than open air.
gel, not jell

I got a cracked up screen, i'm really hoping I don't have to fight water damage... (i know how to replace the glass and I plan on doing it sometime sorta soon)
I think I'd prefer cracked screen to water damage if I had to pick.
Way back when I had a little iPod nano that went into the wash with and old Samsung flip phone the phone died but the iPod survived. I had put them in front of a wall heater, basically equivalent to a hair dryer i guess.
just be smart don't get your phone wet
OH any thoughts on Liquipel? http://www.liquipel.com/
sounds like they use a vacuum to coat everything inside.
I'd be interested to try some of NeverWet's product with my vacuum pump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7is6r6zXFDc
http://www.neverwet.com/index.php
But it sounds like they aren't in production yet.

Ok. My wife dropped her two week old GS3 in the toilet and few weeks back. She claims it started making weird noises and the screen was flashing. She turned it off and let it dry out in the sun. A couple of hours later she returned home and I turned it on. There was a green hue to the screen.The touch screen was unresponsive. I turned it off and took out the battery, sd card and sim card. I shook the phone and felt some water come out. We put the phone in a zip lock bag filled with rice and a handful of those little descicant packets. Her idea. We let the phone sit there for around 36 hours. We then turned it back on and everything did and still does work fine.
I doubt the rice or packets actually did anything. I think just giving it time to dry was all that was needed. Just my personal experience.
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jjm3175 said:
I doubt the rice or packets actually did anything. I think just giving it time to dry was all that was needed. Just my personal experience.
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The rice and silica absolutely did something - its the chemical equivalent of vacuuming the moisture out of every nook and cranny. You'll never air dry it as much.
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Silca gel does 999x better then air drying,it even takes the moisture from water spots. Do not air dry please. You will build corrosion from water and oxygen on electronic parts
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Saiboogu said:
The rice and silica absolutely did something - its the chemical equivalent of vacuuming the moisture out of every nook and cranny. You'll never air dry it as much.
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+1
The air in your home has some moisture/humidity already, making air drying much less effective than silica gel or rice.

I guess I should be thankful for my wife's shoe buying habit since I'm the one who paid for the phone lol.
Good thread.
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