True Story - I'm humbled and surprised it worked...

soarin

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Feb 8, 2010
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Okay, well, I recognize that everyone needs a bit of humour and "good story" every now and then, so I thought I would share this. If you get bored, sorry! I got my iPhone 4 in September... and it has completed my Apple centric existence (MacBook Pro, iPad, iPod, Airport Extreme, Apple TV, etc etc.)

Fast forward to this weekend. My girlfriend and I decided to take a little luxury trip across the water (We are from Vancouver) to Victoria this weekend. We decided to stay at the luxurious Fairmont Empress Hotel... and treat ourselves to a relaxing weekend in the capital, shopping, spa, afternoon tea, etc.

So, after a lovely relaxing Saturday morning of spa treatments, we decided to hit the jacuzzi. Now, I must interject and tell you, for the purposes of back story, that way back during the "overboard versus Aquapac" contest, I was one of the lucky Aquapac winners. (And I use it faithfully every time I use the jacuzzi at home.) This weekend I was on-call (via phone) so I needed to keep my phone with me the whole time (minor inconvenience but oh well!). I had just finished sending a text back home and I slipped the phone into my swimsuit pocket. You can guess what's coming next right? Yup... I showered, went out to the pool deck... and lowered myself into the lovely hot tub. As I sat there my hand brushed the side of my leg, and felt the indisputable shape of my iPhone 4 in my swimsuit pocket.

Well, I don't know if the look of horror on my face could be accurately captured with words, so I won't even try. Suffice it to say, my girlfriend said my face looked like it would if I had just been told I had terminal cancer! Yikes. I leaped out of the hot tub, pulled out my phone, and immediate started wiping it down. As I got most of the surface water off, I ran straight to the spa reception desk and got a paperclip. I popped out the sim card. I continued drying the phone with a towl, shaking out any water I could as I went.

I made it to the hotel room in about 3.4 seconds... (okay maybe a few minutes longer!). I remembered reading a thread somewhere about putting the phone in a bag of rice. So, as I started with the blowdryer on low... gently blowing some air through the device, I called down to the concierge to see about some rice!

After explaining the situation to him, he told me to meet him downstairs with the phone in few minutes. So, I did. He escorted me to the kitchen. He said "You're not the first guest we've had that has done this!"... in the kitchen he took a bag of rice, buried my phone in it, and proceeded to vacuum seal the bag!!! He said "leave it there for 48 hours, then take it out, wipe it down, remove the rice from any ports, throw your sim card back in, and turn it on!".

So here I am, 48 hours later. I took my beloved iPhone 4 out of the bag of rice (had to use tweezers for a couple of pieces stick in the sim slot LOL). Blew some air through to get any dust out. Wiped it down, and inserted my sim card.

I turned the device on and OMG everything works like a charm! In fact, as I was testing the functionality, I phoned my mother, and she said its never sounded clearer! **laugh** There is no part of the functionality of the phone that is reduced!

So there it is... I am humbled that some quick action, and a bag of rice can save my little "communications universe" from utter destruction!

PS. Yes, the water sensors are pink. Bye bye AppleCare...
PPS. The Aquapac will travel with me from now on!
 

jdavis530

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About the clearer sound after getting wet, 6 days after my fiance and I got our iphones she spilled coffee all over her's and I did the rice thing also, and I swear now her speaker phone and regular speaker are louder than mine too. Glad to hear that it came back to life without ruining the phone. I can imagine your expression as I think I have had the same one when I dropped my 3Gs on the concrete.
 

lonbeehold

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Love this story. I know one of these days I'm going to forgot the damn thing is in my back pocket when I hit the head. Glad it's working!
 

soarin

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Feb 8, 2010
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Update!

So I thought I would post a quick update! Thanks for all the comments everyone I still can't believe it worked! Anyways, yesterday I went into my local Apple store, to confess my sins and have them check for any water damage deep inside the phone. Why? Well as much as it's working like a charm, my worry was the loss of my AppleCare and potentially there was damage that can surface months from now. So, I explained what happened to one of the techs and he told me to wait a moment while he took my iPhone 4 into the back and open it up. He returned about 8 minutes later and promptly said, I quote: "Sir, pardon my language, but you are one lucky son of a bi***". I laughed of course and asked him why? He told me this: That there are 4 water/moisture sensors on the iPhone 4. One in the headphone jack, one in the dock connector, and two more within the circuit board. He said that the AppleCare warranty is only voided if two of the four sensors are fully activated (fully pink). In my case, only one sensor (the one in the headphone jack) was only half-pink ... Which he states many people have just due to using it outdoors in damp environments. So my AppleCare is safe and sound! So, he then asked me what kind of case I had on it, as that was what probably saved my a**. so just to let you all know, I have the invisible shield screen protector, then I have the whole device inside a casemate "nude" clear hard shell case. I use the headphone jack and dock connector plugs that came with the clear casemate case. I slip the whole thing into an incipio pocket style sleeve whenever it's in my pocket. The tech said that having it inside a sleeve, inside a case, and with the plugs in probably combined to keep out most of the water (since it was only fully submerged for a few seconds). Anyways...just thought you all would be interested!

Have a happy holiday season and keep your iPhones dry!
 

FXC

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Dec 24, 2010
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With the cap on, punch a few holes in an empty plastic bottle. Grab the bottle by its neck, dip it in your bathtub and hold it under water for as long as you wish. Then come back here and tell us how much water got into the bottle.

Any well-built gadget is essentially water resistant; not 100% "waterproof" but resistant, nevertheless. Other than that, cool story, bro! ;)
 

grajasekar

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Nice story.. damn you're lucky. I know people whose phones have been ruined by much less water being splashed on them :( Guess you must be really really lucky to have those water sensors still showing the same color. But what exactly is it about rice that's so special in getting moisture out from the phone real fast I wonder.
 

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