Last week something stressful happened to me. While I was walking outside our house, on my way to a nearby store to buy some drinks, my Android smartphone, specifically my Samsung Galaxy Note 2, slipped my hand and fell. And to make things worst, it bounced (because of the Otterbox case) right through the drainage hole! Not only did my phone got soaked in water, but it fell into the drainage canal. Please continue reading below and find out how I got my phone back, and what are the things I did to fix a wet smartphone.
The slab of concrete was to heavy for me to lift up and open. I had to call someone stronger than me so that we can open the man hole. After a few minutes we finally moved the slab of concrete big enough for me to fit and got my phone back. My phone was partially submerged in the dirty water, and yes it’s really dirty.
From here on, here are the steps that I did to save my phone and I also learned some things that you shouldn’t do once your phone gets soaked in water.
Unless your phone is not water resistant like the Sony Xperia Z or the totally water proof like the Xperia ZR, you should never, under any circumstances, never ever turn your phone on. Do not even attempt to turn it on after getting wet.
After I got my phone I immediately washed it with running water. Yes, I did that, I washed it with running water. I had no choice since it was soaked in a really dirty water. But I removed the battery just to be safe and to avoid any further damage.
After washing it with water, I poured alcohol to disinfect the thing. Who knows what type of germs or bacteria my phone got while it was submerged in the canal. By the way, you do not have to do what I did. You don’t need to wash your phone like what I did. You can skip this part and proceed to drying your wet phone immediately.
Remember, do not even attempt to turn on your phone, just remove the battery immediately. Then try to dry it with towel. Do not use a blow dryer to dry it. The next thing I did is prepare a container full of rice.
I placed (submerged) my towel-dried Galaxy Note 2, and the battery, in the container filled with rice and left it for 24 hours. The rice will absorb any moisture that was left inside the phone. So did my phone survive?
Here is another thing that you should definitely avoid, and this was also my mistake. The next day after putting my phone in rice, I put the battery back and attempted to turn it on. Well, it didn’t turn on. I thought it was already dead. But I tried charging my phone and to my relief the charging indicator appeared.
After a few minutes, I tried to turn it on and yes, it did turned on. My phone was alive again, but some functions where no longer working. Again this was my mistake, and I should have never turn it on again after doing the rice trick. Why? Because there where still moisture left inside, and the mainboard got dirtied as well.
My phone died after a few minutes so I had no choice but to bring it to a Samsung customer service. It was still under warranty but a phone soaked in water voids the warranty. When I brought my Galaxy Note 2 to Samsung, they opened it and found out that the motherboard and some parts got dirtied. Some almost got burned because I turned the phone on. If I insisted on using that further without bringing it to the customer service, my phone would have totally died.
This is what I suggest you also do. If you do not know how to open your phone and clean it from the inside, bring it to a customer service and let them clean it for you. I think technicians use some solution to clean the board and those tiny little chips inside the phone.
After that, my phone survived and it’s still working until today. Thank God! But some of the functions are no longer working like the 3.5mm audio jack and sometimes it suddenly restarts or freezes.
In summary, the 5 things that you should do if you dropped your phone in water are:
1. Do not attempt to turn on your phone after getting it wet.
2. Remove the battery immediately
3. Dry it with towel, do not use a blow dryer
4. Submerge your phone and your battery in rice. The rice will absorb any moisture left. Note: The photo above is just for illustration purposes only. You should totally submerged the phone in rice.
5. Bring it to a customer service and left them clean the internals of your phone before turning it on.
Well, I hope this experience on mine will help you also, or in the future. Just remember, you might be able to save your wet smartphone if you know the things that you should do after getting it wet.
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