Comments on: Taking the iPhone 3G for a swim

By: Sherrilyn

Sherrilyn — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:02:15 +0000

I got an iPhone 3G as a gift from my best friend. This phone is the best phone that i ever had, great style and great features. I luv my iPhone 3G.
*.

By: Evi

Evi — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:27:37 +0000

my iphone 3g fell in the sea at night… no chance to find it until after 4 hours where there was enough light to see at the bottom of the sea… I just washed it with fresh water, dried it with the blowdryer for a while and put it in a bag of rice.. After 3 and a half days I removed it from the bag and still it wont switch on… I have heard of cases that the phone wouldn’t switch on until after several days or weeks and that the phone would be fully operational.. Any suggestions on what else to do?

By: EC

EC — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:25:37 +0000

It will over time die on you if it has moisture damage. It will eat up the circuit board connections over time.

By: TJ

TJ — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:56:48 +0000

+1 on the 100% Ethanol… or rubbing alcohol (not 100%) if nothing else. Remove battery if able, dunk and remove. Shake out excess, place on towel in oven on WARM. Less than 150f or use hair dryer.
3 items brought back to life.

By: Sarig

Sarig — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:00:11 +0000

Whenever I drop a phone or a gadget into water (or a pint of beer as it once was), I just remove the battery and leave it for drying for at least 24 hours, in a warm dry place. Hadn’t heard of the rice thing before, but it’s certainly something I’ll remember for the future.

Being able to remove the battery and thus at least being able to prevent further electrical damage is something I would think is important though.

By: Domin

Domin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:38:48 +0000

100% Ethanol or close to 100% – this works. Cleaned that way my Nokia that felt into sweet juice. Rescued walkie-talkie after it was wet with sea water. Only you have to be carefull with chasis of device as sometimes Ethanol might react with surface (especially with plastic glass for screen).

By: pradyut

pradyut — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:37:18 +0000

This is truly an amazing story… just a matter of time before apple fan boys post links to this all over…

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:04:42 +0000

Interesting technique, have you done it before?

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:49:23 +0000

The best way is to take out the battery and submerge the cell phone immediately into 100% Ethanol. Ethanol is much more efficient in absorbing water within a few minutes. After that just keep it in the open space for few hours as ethanol is also very quick to evaporate. This always works without any damage to the cell phone.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:40:19 +0000

I’m on iphone number 3 and my first one (iphone 2G) I had for only 17 hours before I was caught in a torrential downpour and it got soaked in a sports bag that it was being carried in. Took it to a shop that dried out the mobo and found it would cost more than the original purchase price to repair… so that’s how I made my move to the iPhone 3G

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:51:17 +0000

As much as people seem to want a removable battery, I would rather have it enclosed in the case of the iPhone. First of all, I don’t think it would be any easier to fix the phone, water would still be throughout. As for the unibody phone, not having a removable battery means less space taken up by all the pieces necessary to make that happen, and more room for battery. My phone lasts me all day and gets charged at the end of the day, I don’t have a problem with it. I think a relatively small number of people would actually tote multiple batteries with them and swap them out as they run out, and Apple knows that. They created a highly aesthetically pleasing, extremely durable unit. I’d rather not have a thin piece of plastic and a latch to hold it closed on the back of the iPhone.

By: turn.self.off

turn.self.off — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:40:07 +0000

i wonder how much easier it would be to resurrect the phone if one could pop the back cover off and extract the battery…

i also seem to recall a treatment some company was showing off, that would make just about any portable device water proof.

i think they had a dap submerged in water playing music all of CES or something, only have to take it out to clean the battery contacts and headphone jack of electrolytic deposits or something.