Cell Phone Dropped In Water

[4evermaat]

Samsung Galaxy mini. GF dropped hers in water puddle somehow and the screen is blank. She has taken it to the phone shop, and the guy was nice enough to give her a loaner phone. It was appx 5000 baht.

What steps should be taken to preserve the phone? One person was recommending opening up the phone, drying it out completely, and then retry turning on the phone. It is under warranty, but no accidental coverage. Could I see if I take it to samsung shop and see if I get lucky? If not, is it just cheaper to buy a new phone or attempt to fix?

I'll be passing through Bangkok and will most likely be near Siam Paragon/Pantip/MBK, there is smsung repair shop @mbk.

[jonnyscot]

I heard someone at my work before was advised to open up the phone take out the battery and sim, and put everything into a small bag filled with dry rice, seal and leave for about 5 days,, apparently that worked for him

[msg362]

I put mine in an oven at 50oC for about 2 hours, worked with one that I dropped into a drain, but the one I put through a wash cycle failed miserably

[bino]

I've rescued a few phones, as long as the water was reasonably clean... swimming pools, unused toilet, etc. After taking it apart as much as I could, sitting the phone over the vents on top of my previous CRT monitors overnight always did the trick.

Since the advent of LCD monitors- I'll need to find a new heat source. The vents at the back of our plasma television get toasty... maybe that would work for you.

I'd be interested to know how it works out for you and if you can save the phone, because I have a Galaxy Mini myself.

[thrilled]

rice worked for me.Most people try and turn on the phone as soon as they get it out of the water.thats the last thing ya want to do.instead take everything out,do the rice thing.

[oggie911]

put in fresh rice that works dismantle it 1st it dose work but dont know about touch screen phone

[nikster]

rice worked for me.Most people try and turn on the phone as soon as they get it out of the water.thats the last thing ya want to do.instead take everything out,do the rice thing.

^ that

don't try to turn the phone on prematurely

take out the battery

put in sealed rice container for a few days

that will dry out the phone so as long as nothing got fried (because you turned it on when it was still wet) it should be OK.

[Gary A]

About five years ago my wife bought a Nokia 6500 slider. It was a 13,000 baht phone back then. It may have been a year or so old when she dropped it in the water. The toilet to be precise.

I took out the battery and dried it out the best I could with a hair dryer and then left it in front of a fan for a couple days. It didn't work, dead.

She took it to a local shop and the guy got it working. I think it cost her maybe 400 baht. It worked for a few weeks and died again. To make a long story short, it was in and out of the shop a number of times so she bought a 1,200 baht Nokia to use while it was in the shop.

None of the repair bills were that expensive but the phone was no longer dependable. The repairman finally seems to have gotten it right and the phone still works. She now is still using the cheap Nokia and the 6500 is pretty much just a spare. She does use it once in a while because of the decent camera and the ability to look at her photos on the TV but she says it is too big and heavy.

As far as I am concerned, she should have traded it in for whatever the phone shop would give her for it. I wouldn't have put up with the aggravation.

[sfokevin]

rice worked for me.Most people try and turn on the phone as soon as they get it out of the water.thats the last thing ya want to do.instead take everything out,do the rice thing.

^ that

don't try to turn the phone on prematurely

take out the battery

put in sealed rice container for a few days

that will dry out the phone so as long as nothing got fried (because you turned it on when it was still wet) it should be OK.

I would just add that you can set the rice bag in the sun to speed up the drying

[raro]

Do NOT put it in the microwave...friend of mine did that years ago and it killed the microwave, too

[4evermaat]

The local guy did fix the phone. 500 baht, and even gave us a loaner phone for gf to use while it was in the shop. We'll see how it holds up.

[rak sa_ngop]

I remember reading the instruction booklet of an older Samsung phone that a moisture sensitive paper is inserted into the phone so that the Samsung repair shop knows that the phone was dropped in water (and invalidate the guarantee).

Do manufacturers still do this on smart phones?

[sumrit]

I remember reading the instruction booklet of an older Samsung phone that a moisture sensitive paper is inserted into the phone so that the Samsung repair shop knows that the phone was dropped in water (and invalidate the guarantee).

Do manufacturers still do this on smart phones?

yes they do, in fact there are usually several moisture sensors dotted around the phones and there's always one near the speaker.