Bought the gf an i-phone a couple of weeks ago, on the understanding that it would serve as a birthday present for the next decade or so, and be a get-out-of-jail card against forgetting her birthday, which was a BIG DEAL the last time I did it. I drive a hard bargain, but she seemed happy enough.
There’s absolutely no way I’d spend that much (about the same as my car cost) on something that small and vulnerable for myself, (I’d probably lose it) but she’s Taiwanese, and likes gadgets.
We went kayaking this weekend. I havn’t done it for ages, she never has.
I didn’t think of telling her to leave the bloody i-phone in the car. though I left my despised, semi-broken 800NT second-hand Nokia there and my 39NT Daiso watch.
She fell in and of course the phone got wet, probably with salt water, though there’s been a lot of rain so it might have been locally a bit dilute in this location due to runoff.
It was quite hot to the touch, and you can’t take the battery out, it being permanently wired in.
I tentatively suggested she soak it in pure alcohol, and if it had been mine that’s probably what I’d have done, but its a pretty desperate measure and I don’t wonder she didn’t go for it. Dried it with a hair-dryer for a bit, then left it in front of a fan. I thik she’s going to take it in to the shop tommorrow.
I dropped a laptop in a huge puddle when I was a teenager. I tried the dry out method, I kept in the house for a month without using it and tried to use a hair dryer… A month later I pushed power and zzzzup noise… fried the motherboard.
Then I did it to a cheap cell phone years ago and even though it worked after, it didn’t work well and the keys got stuck.
I got my phone to work again after a brief dunk using the rice method. Dry rice, yes. Take the phone appart, leave parts burried in rice for three or four days, and then try to start it back up. It worked for mine, and if it doesn’t, you haven’t lost anything more than an extra cup of rice.
Ok not as bad your case, only dropped a glass of water over the iphone.
Switched it off immediately, and dunked it into a bowl of rice + those dry gel packets that come in shoe boxes.
After a week, pulled it out and fired it up. Been working perfectly ever since.
NB: Apple can tell if the phone has been water damaged, i think there is a ring on the inside of the headphone jack that turns red / pink if exposed to water.
Pretty much the same advice about the rice, plus, if you are feeling confident, disassemble pat down and dry the pcb if wet, clean with alcohol and then place parts in rice or some other water absorbing material.
I don’t have an i-phone. Never wanted one, but if I had, I sure as hell wouldn’t want one now.
Shops shut today, and there’s zero chance the thing will still be savable by tommorrow.
She’s wasn’t very receptive to unqualified first-aid suggestions from me, and I didn’t want to push it, since (a) I didn’t want direct blame for the gizmo’s death. (b) I’ve been avoiding making the obvious “What the fuck were you thinking of?” remark, and a row might bring it out.
Pity. She seemed to quite enjoy the kayaking, but with this negative association I doubt she’ll do it again.
Its just messed up a situation. Sorry to hear bout that. It was an honest mistake thats all.
Too bad the bloody fone costs so much.
I have a Hwawei android fone. My bud at work bought an HTC android for 600 dollars when the androids hit the US market about 2 years ago or so. He wanted to be one of the first to get one. SO it costs him 600. I bought mine six months later for 99.99.
Because it was 3G and everyone was harping bout 4G.
IF your ifone was 99 bucks, its not real biggie, thats only 3000nt. But costing as much as it does, it really does hurt. Come to think of it? HOw much does it cost ? Over here they are giving away 3G iphones if you get a 2 year subscription. And that costs around 80/month. If you want a 4G you would have to pay a hundred or two (Depending on the fone companY) and pay 80/month for 2 years as well.
Over here when you buy a fone you can buy insurance, which adds something like ten bucks/month to your bill for any eventualities like that.
But it works only for one or two replacements. After that you get the evil eye.
You sound like an astute guy Ducked.
“a row might break out” which really means , as you know, a row WILL break out.
Taiwanese girls are quite attached to their fones.
well at least if it makes you feel better they are about 800 dollars in Indonesia. My GF wanted one but i said no and got her a blackberry for 400 dollars.
Slightly astonishing sequel. After an inadequate drying attempt with a hairdryer, and leaving it for about 2 weeks with the battery in, my gf left it with a bloke on “Chick Street” (Beimen Road) here in Tainan and he got it working again with a new battery!
Not a happy ending because the battery wouldn’t charge, but still impressive.
I didn’t see the insides before cleaning but I’m told there was a lot of corrosion. I went with her when she went to pick it up and the guy spent a long time with contact cleaner and a toothbrush on the charging path, but no dice.
Before the no-charging let down, they’d agreed a 3k fee, of which 1500 was the replacement battery. He’d agreed to take it on a no-fix no-charge basis but before going to finally pick it up she talked about paying him for his (considerable) time spent anyway, though I don’t know if she did.
I was interested in knowing what he’d done but didn’t want to be too nosy trade-secrets-wise. Gf said he’d partially endorsed my soak-it-in-alcohol plan, with the proviso that “pure/industrial” (slight contradiction) alcohol be used. I asked about using an ultrasonic cleaning bath and I understood him to say it’d bugger up the resonant timing crystal, though it might be worth trying as a last resort. Dunno if he did that though, since he might not have one.
If anyone down south is interested I’ll post his contact details.
Sorry about the phone Ducked, did you read the article I gave?
I wouldn’t recommend an ultra sonic bath, that sounds like a terrible idea. Seems some have fixed the charging problem by doing a reset of the device. Hold down the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons until the iPhone powered off and the Apple logo reappears, then try charging.
Still, at least it won’t be my rice.