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I had it less than a week. I have NEVER gotten a phone wet in my life (45 years old.) and I had this one for less than a week and my dog rammed into me (Big dog.) while I was standing near the sink, texting, and bloop, it goes into the soapy water. I got it out with moments and popped the battery out.
I must mention that when I pulled it out of the water it was vibrating constantly and the LED's on the back were blinking quickly.
It was soapy water with dirty dish crap in it. I got on line and read immediately. I followed the directions to a T. Soaked it in distilled water for about an hour and then let it dry by the exhaust port on the back of my computer.
48+ hours passed and I attempted to turn it on. Insert the battery, nothing bad happened. Press the power button, after a second or two it vibrated and the screen lit up with the logo and my heart was happy. It booted into Windows and I was very relieved.
It was short lived. There are some issues.
There is obviously moisture trapped under the screen. There are dark spots, light spots, swirls, etc. You can't see it too much in Manila but when the screen turns a solid, lighter color (Like in Task Manager or Opera Favorites for example.) you can see the swirls.
People can hear me clearly when I speak but I can barely, oh so barely, hear them talking to me. The volume in the ear speaker is very muted.
The rear speaker, for music, nav directions, speaker phone, etc. is nothing but crackles. I mean you can hear and deduce what's coming out but it's buzzy and crackly the whole time. Just awful sounding.
The touch screen has some diminished sensitivity, maybe 10% less reactive all over and up to 75% less reactive near the edges.
It's so bad that I'm using some piece of crap back-up flip phone from eons gone by. I pray nobody calls me in public so I don't have to pull this piece of crap out. It's that bad. It's magenta too. (That's the manliest word I can think of for pink.)
In your opinion, do you think my HD2 will improve over time? Another full day has passed, back in front of the heating vent. The screen has changed some. I can't say that it really got better but it has changed. Some of the solid water lines that were there are now muddled. Perhaps a 5% improvement. The speakers show no sign of improving nor has the screen sensitivity, they are the same crap as yesterday.
The speakers are really the deal killer, if I can't hear people then it really isn't a phone.
Everything else on it seems to work fine. GPS, Wifi, data, etc.
Should I give up on it, dump it for cheap, and move on to something else like the Nexus One maybe, or wait until T-Mobile US gets their HD2s? (Is there a release date for the HD2 in USA yet?)
What is your opinion, hopefully based on experience on this?
I lost my job last week (Business closed.) and honestly, I'm more sad about this phone than I am losing my job. I know that's twisted but I loved using this phone. Loved everything about it. I miss it dearly, even though I know it's just a phone.
Please advise. Thank you for reading.
Of course the half a second it was in the soapy water wasn't enough to get all the parts really soaked and the water didn't get a chance to get in all the parts and between the lcd and the touch screen so you decided to put it in water again for about an hour just to make sure.
I'd hate to see you rescue a drowning person.
Anyway I'm sorry for your loss.. maybe you can get a friend's insurance cover it.. (figuring your dog has none). Also dry it some more..
bel_z_bub said:
Of course the half a second it was in the soapy water wasn't enough to get all the parts really soaked and the water didn't get a chance to get in all the parts and between the lcd and the touch screen so you decided to put it in water again for about an hour just to make sure.
I'd hate to see you rescue a drowning person.
Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss.. maybe you can get a friend to cover it on his insurance (figuring your dog has none)
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Well it was longer than a half second. It slipped under some dishes and I fumbled awkwardly a little bit trying to get it. I would say total submerge time was probably 6-7 seconds. It looked very wet to me. When I popped the battery there was definitely soapy, dirty dishwater coming coming out of the insides. Maybe I did more damage by soaking it in distilled water but it was overwhelmingly recommended on the internet when I searched for wet phone.
Edit: I'm in the US and this phone was not released here. Is there a way to have insurance on a phone not purchased through typical channels?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Bit of a long shot, but have you tried recalibrating the touch screen? Don't think it'll make a huge difference but... never know.
Regarding the speakers, you are probably SOL. I think you'd be surprised what you can sell a busted phone for on ebay.
Re: Insurance, did you purchase it with an AMEX or a 'premium' Visa/Mastercard? You automatically get some coverage.
This actually makes me very nervous because it reminds me that personal digital (the aussie dealer for the T9193) didn't accept AMEX, so I used my normal Visa... sigh. Off to buy a warranty.
mazzarin said:
Bit of a long shot, but have you tried recalibrating the touch screen? Don't think it'll make a huge difference but... never know.
Regarding the speakers, you are probably SOL. I think you'd be surprised what you can sell a busted phone for on ebay.
Re: Insurance, did you purchase it with an AMEX or a 'premium' Visa/Mastercard? You automatically get some coverage.
This actually makes me very nervous because it reminds me that personal digital (the aussie dealer for the T9193) didn't accept AMEX, so I used my normal Visa... sigh. Off to buy a warranty.
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Click to collapse
That's a good idea, I'll give that recalibration a shot.
Are the speakers made of paper? Did they get wet and become permanently damaged? I've since read dozens and dozens of stories on the net about wet cell phones and I've heard nobody mention anything about permanent damage to the speakers. Does the HD2 have some kind of unique sound system which might make it more susceptible to water damage?
No on credit card, purchased with cash on Craig's List.
Thank you for your help.
Hmm, maybe it's in my head but recalibrating it does seem to make the touch reaction a little better. Seems to run a little smoother.
Honestly, if I can get the dang sound to work half way decently I will be able to live with it for a while. I blew some compressed air (Not high pressure but a decent blast.) into the grills but no difference on either. I can't imagine what's in there, other than a torn speaker, which could make the cones not move efficiently. Maybe some kind of corrosion in the magnetic motor behind the cone possibly.
balane said:
Hmm, maybe it's in my head but recalibrating it does seem to make the touch reaction a little better. Seems to run a little smoother.
Honestly, if I can get the dang sound to work half way decently I will be able to live with it for a while. I blew some compressed air (Not high pressure but a decent blast.) into the grills but no difference on either. I can't imagine what's in there, other than a torn speaker, which could make the cones not move efficiently. Maybe some kind of corrosion in the magnetic motor behind the cone possibly.
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remember when you search for solutions online to check the date when it was posted.. that distilled water trick maybe worked for nokia 3310's.
Also be carefull with air when it's wet.. if it is paper, I don't know.. but imagin what happens to it if it is and it's still wet.... I'd carefully use a hair dryer... and leave it dry for a week, not 48 hours..
I've seen a Dutch insurance company that insures your phone online without questions.. you just pay a fee for stepping in (€25). There must be something like that in the states. I don't know if you have home insurance, but some companies nowadays also cover mobile phones and laptops, even when your on the move.
bel_z_bub said:
remember when you search for solutions online to check the date when it was posted.. that distilled water trick maybe worked for nokia 3310's.
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That's a very good point and one I didn't consider. A couple of the stories I read were about touch screen phones so I assumed it might be applicable.
I don't know if you have home insurance, but some companies nowadays also cover mobile phones and laptops, even when your on the move.
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I do have home owner's and that's an excellent idea. I will call and pick their brains first thing in the morning.
You may want to query one of the parts replacement sites to see if they can get you a speaker. Something like truesupplier.com or cnn.cn (Just as a reference, I'm not vouching for the legitimacy of these sites.)
balane said:
That's a very good point and one I didn't consider. A couple of the stories I read were about touch screen phones so I assumed it might be applicable.
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the non capacitive touch screens are indestructable compared to the HD2's.. anyway.. I would have tried without first..
I know my comment didn't help much after the damage was done but it just seemed like the last thing I would do.. that's all. what's done is done. Let's just see if you're insured..!
I've had my fair share of wets phones and I don't think 48 hours is long enough for it to dry out completely.
Cover the phone in a cloth and sit it on top of your television for a week.
Don't forget, you let the phone sit in distilled water for an hour, that's plenty of time for water to soak deep down into the nooks and crannys.
elkyelky said:
I've had my fair share of wets phones and I don't think 48 hours is long enough for it to dry out completely.
Cover the phone in a cloth and sit it on top of your television for a week.
Don't forget, you let the phone sit in distilled water for an hour, that's plenty of time for water to soak deep down into the nooks and crannys.
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That's pretty much what I'm doing now. Only difference is that it's sitting behind the exhaust vent on my computer which seems to be a nice temperature for drying without being too hot. My TV is a plasma and has no flat surface on top.
balane said:
That's a very good point and one I didn't consider. A couple of the stories I read were about touch screen phones so I assumed it might be applicable.
I do have home owner's and that's an excellent idea. I will call and pick their brains first thing in the morning.
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HARD RESET <<<< & don't use your phone with battery cover for few days so water evaporate
at this point i would be wondering if soaking it in ethanol / alchohol would do it some good. my reasoning:
-Alchohol / ethanol / similar is a water dispersant and evaporates very quickly
- the liquid is much thinner than water so will get into every nook and cranny
- its wort a go since it seems like its a bit buggered anyway
From what I've read the 99% denatured alcohol rescue is split between two camps, both far on one side of the option or the other.
I guess getting it under the screen might help but I can't see what it could do for the speakers.
If I do this, and I'm very hesitant to do it, it will be a total last ditch effort when I've given up all other hope.
I think some long term drying is in order, and maybe a couple of fingers crossed.
g.lewarne said:
at this point i would be wondering if soaking it in ethanol / alchohol would do it some good. my reasoning:
-Alchohol / ethanol / similar is a water dispersant and evaporates very quickly
- the liquid is much thinner than water so will get into every nook and cranny
- its wort a go since it seems like its a bit buggered anyway
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Click to collapse
he is better using >>>> the spray for cleaning microcircuits, I have try it in the past and it works very well.
Take out the btery and spry it n all parts. It will dry by it self in few minutes time
give it a try
SOLRAC13 said:
give it a try
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Do you happen to have a product name you can recommend?
cover it with newspaper, then go get uncook rice, cover the phone & newspaper with rice, leave it for a week for completely dry.
Or have a lot of dry silicagel, you can use it as well. If what you have is those type usually found in dry food, make sure it dry otherwise it won't observe water. If it brand new like those found in glossary store, then just put phone in big zip lock bag with the silicagel (or something where air cannot go in or out).
Just remember, don't heat it (like hair dryer, hot air, etc) as that will speed up the oxidize and have rust on small parts in your phone.
balane said:
Do you happen to have a product name you can recommend?
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Click to collapse
sorry no , just go to a repair of circuit shop and i am sure they will tel you the name.
or try this >>> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ed=0CAYQBSgA&q=circuit+cleaning+spray&spell=1
Right, please no sarcasm this may happen to the best of us.
I left my phone in my pocket and washed it yesterday morning. Since then I have done all the recommended things eg. battery out, dryed off, into sealed bag with rice under warmish conditions (near radiator). It has been 24hours since the horrific incident, I am still feeling emotional.
However, I have attempted a partial disassembly in the same way as the official htc leaked video but can't get the thing apart. I thought this may help the drying process if I can get a bit of air flow through the device. The phone was on at the time of washing and was probably in water for 5mins. It was in its case and when I took it out there was no unusual activity (vibrating, flashing LED's etc.). I didn't attempt to turn the screen on just got the battery out, and wiped away a small tear whilst drying it.
Has anyone had any experience of drying out phones, any good advice? The water indicator stickers are now a disgusting shade of pink, therefore my warranty is gone and because I'm tight I have no insurance I have only had it 6 WEEKS.
HELP!
testarossa said:
Right, please no sarcasm this may happen to the best of us.
I left my phone in my pocket and washed it yesterday morning. Since then I have done all the recommended things eg. battery out, dryed off, into sealed bag with rice under warmish conditions (near radiator). It has been 24hours since the horrific incident, I am still feeling emotional.
However, I have attempted a partial disassembly in the same way as the official htc leaked video but can't get the thing apart. I thought this may help the drying process if I can get a bit of air flow through the device. The phone was on at the time of washing and was probably in water for 5mins. It was in its case and when I took it out there was no unusual activity (vibrating, flashing LED's etc.). I didn't attempt to turn the screen on just got the battery out, and wiped away a small tear whilst drying it.
Has anyone had any experience of drying out phones, any good advice? The water indicator stickers are now a disgusting shade of pink, therefore my warranty is gone and because I'm tight I have no insurance I have only had it 6 WEEKS.
HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd let it dry for at least a couple of days before I'd even try turning it on. Accidents happen and that's why you really ought to get insurance. Nothing you can do now but wait it out. If you're lucky you'll end up with a working phone. Any specific reason you put it into a sealed bag? Imho that should only prolong the drying process.
I thought the rice in a sealed bag would minimise the amount air in the bag and therefore the rice would draw the water out of the phone not the air. I have bought some desiccant from a photography shop as well but I am resisting temptation to turn on until at least Tuesday.
Toss3 said:
I'd let it dry for at least a couple of days before I'd even try turning it on. Accidents happen and that's why you really ought to get insurance. Nothing you can do now but wait it out. If you're lucky you'll end up with a working phone. Any specific reason you put it into a sealed bag? Imho that should only prolong the drying process.
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agree about not needing a sealed bag. Rice is going to suck humidity, yet air recyrcleing is still another drying measure.
Anyway, why did you try disassembling it? You surely voided your warranty by removing the VOID sticker on the screw. If you just waited long enough for it to really get dry even inside, after you ascertained it didn't work anyway, you could've played dumb and send it back for servicing with warranty coverage, since they would find an unoperative device, but with no means to prove the uncorrect usage, since there would have been no traces of water inside after a few days in a warm place...
ephestione said:
agree about not needing a sealed bag. Rice is going to suck humidity, yet air recyrcleing is still another drying measure.
Anyway, why did you try disassembling it? You surely voided your warranty by removing the VOID sticker on the screw. If you just waited long enough for it to really get dry even inside, after you ascertained it didn't work anyway, you could've played dumb and send it back for servicing with warranty coverage, since they would find an unoperative device, but with no means to prove the uncorrect usage, since there would have been no traces of water inside after a few days in a warm place...
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The water indicating stickers would have given away that there had been water within the device (I thought). The phone is outside of the rice now drying in a warm place, cheers for the advice.
testarossa said:
The water indicating stickers would have given away that there had been water within the device (I thought). The phone is outside of the rice now drying in a warm place, cheers for the advice.
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...are there water indicating stickers on/inside the hd2? news to me!
Better yet, just googled around and water stickers should be white-ish pieces of paper that become (and stay) red-ish when wet... did you identify one inside the phone somewhere?
ephestione said:
...are there water indicating stickers on/inside the hd2? news to me!
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Click to collapse
The top left screw is covered by a sticker that is now pink on mine. The battery has also get one.
eloeludumideeitursowfingwetoddid
ProjektFuze said:
eloeludumideeitursowfingwetoddid
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Click to collapse
Good advice thanks.
testarossa said:
Right, please no sarcasm this may happen to the best of us.
I left my phone in my pocket and washed it yesterday morning. Since then I have done all the recommended things eg. battery out, dryed off, into sealed bag with rice under warmish conditions (near radiator). It has been 24hours since the horrific incident, I am still feeling emotional.
However, I have attempted a partial disassembly in the same way as the official htc leaked video but can't get the thing apart. I thought this may help the drying process if I can get a bit of air flow through the device. The phone was on at the time of washing and was probably in water for 5mins. It was in its case and when I took it out there was no unusual activity (vibrating, flashing LED's etc.). I didn't attempt to turn the screen on just got the battery out, and wiped away a small tear whilst drying it.
Has anyone had any experience of drying out phones, any good advice? The water indicator stickers are now a disgusting shade of pink, therefore my warranty is gone and because I'm tight I have no insurance I have only had it 6 WEEKS.
HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, how did u managed that?! Its not a small thing to miss in your pocket
Hope everything will work fine in the end
Even if you manage to get it to turn on I would have thought water getting into the layers of the LCD screen would make it pretty much useless anyway?
ephestione said:
...are there water indicating stickers on/inside the hd2? news to me!
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Click to collapse
Yes, all HTC devices have had some for some time now. Usually one visible one (on the top left screw on the HD2, was under the battery on the kaiser), and one inside that you can't get to without opening the device (and voiding the warranty sticker on the other screw), so that even clever people who think of replacing the visible one will still be busted by the hidden one
testarossa said:
The top left screw is covered by a sticker that is now pink on mine. The battery has also get one.
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Click to collapse
kilrah said:
Yes, all HTC devices have had some for some time now. Usually one visible one (on the top left screw on the HD2, was under the battery on the kaiser), and one inside that you can't get to without opening the device (and voiding the warranty sticker on the other screw), so that even clever people who think of replacing the visible one will still be busted by the hidden one
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Click to collapse
that's as much as I suspected as soon as I discovered the existence of "white water detection stickers that become red", and I noticed the white sticker on the top left screw... dam those cunning taiwanese!
Obviously it would have been very, very silly of me if, for test purposes, I would have intentionally got water on that round white sticker...
mine went for its first trip to the bar last night.
got a beer spilled on me and i somewhat remember freaking out cause the phone reset a bunch of times but this morning the hard keys wouldnt stop lighting up. now they have stopped and im back to business
ProjektFuze said:
eloeludumideeitursowfingwetoddid
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Translation: LOL. You dumb idiot, you're so [email protected]*king retarded.
Not particularly pleasant or a helpful response, but funny nonetheless.
As far as OP is concerned. Rice in bag or outside of bag, I think you did a good thing by attempting to disassemble. Water damage gets NO LOVE from insurance/warranty and they would have just sent it back to you.
If you get water damage, the rice and drying method is true. But to ensure moisture free I disassemble phone to the guts and apply a high percentage alcohol, something that evaporates. Water can short a circut, but really it it the minerals and impurities left that usually are the culprit. I have gone as far as to give some circut boards a good soak and/or swab cleaning with 90%+ alcohol. Let dry for FIVE OR SIX DAYS (my standard) while fully disassembled and then reassemble.
What most people do is start using phone too early because stuff is still working okay. For the guy who said that he spilled beer on his phone and at first it was glitching but now it is okay, he is more than likely to experience some erroneous behavior from that phone in the future. Sometimes it takes just a couple weeks, sometimes months. But usually stupid stuff starts happening like random shutoff. No battery charge. Button functions becomming switched. Usually symptoms of a phone dried but not cured of moisture damage.
Good luck, check your pm.
How about house insurance. Do you have cover for electrical items on your house insurance? Might be able to claim acidental damage (also check you are covered for acidental cover too).
I used to work in support for pen tablets, wouldnt believe how many of these got used as umberalas when it rained. My tip used to be to stick it in the airing cupboard over night. Fixed quiet a few this way.
Good luck capt'n
testarossa said:
...and washed it ...
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hi, thats your biggest prob. because usealy washing means using washingpowder or similar. all these things are pretty good in, making new (unwanted) connections on your circucit board.
so normaly your first step has to be, to dip your device into distilled water, and clean it that way. then start drying it the way you have done already. another thing is the display of the hd2 that realy scares fluids of any kind. anyhow i wish good luck to you in recovering your device.
regards mad
Thanks for the tip Mad,
I did consider the distilled water wash off but when I recovered the device it didn't seem too wet. There was hardly any visible water under the battery or screen probably as it was in its case, which is quite a tight fit and fairly waterproof (besides the opening at the top). The water seemed mostly superficial although I'm taking every caution on the drying, I have even bought some desiccant from a photography shop. Hopefully putting this in a sealed container with the device may draw out any remaining water.
Hi Guys,
I made this thread to see if anyone else had experienced this with their SGS
I was petting my dog while i was holding my phone in my other hand, the dog got excited and knocked the phone in my hand and it dropped from approx 50cm on the grass and the phone was also in a thick leather cover... took the phone in my hand and went inside to make a phone call when i noticed it was off! Hmm, i take out the battery put it back in, phone starts fine, i turn the phone to attac the battery cover, turn the phone around ind it was off again, since then i can't turn on my phone......
Of course the phone has no visibile damage whatsoever.....
I am truly amazed and can't get over it.... phone is brand new, 1w old.... INCREDIBLE.... i have no warranty over the phone.
Please tell me there is a fix to this, i love this phone very much...
50 cm drop onto grass in a leather cover? Sorry but smells like BS. Probably no point in asking if it got wet, grass was bone dry no doubt.
Mine took a bounce off pavement from about 4 feet and works like a champ. (also in the 1st week, man I'm holding my next shiny device tight for the first month!)
of course yes dry,no other factors, what is BS?
p.s. also plugged in charger... nothing happens...
this is sooo frustrating because this was like the best way to drop your phone...
Mine fell out of the gym locker about a meter high unto a concrete like surface and it works just fine, no scratches.
BS=Bull**** - he's calling you a liar....
Not possible that there was a stone or rock in the grass? Does your case cover the whole screen? There's a definite weak point in the design where the glass covers the home/back/menu buttons, but if there's no screen damage...
Good luck. And blame the dog!
haloimplant said:
50 cm drop onto grass in a leather cover? Sorry but smells like BS. Probably no point in asking if it got wet, grass was bone dry no doubt.
Mine took a bounce off pavement from about 4 feet and works like a champ. (also in the 1st week, man I'm holding my next shiny device tight for the first month!)
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Click to collapse
x2 - I was actually really surprised how well it took a direct pavement hit.
OP - does the battery stay firmly in place in the phone when the cover is off? Sounds like maybe there is bad contact between the battery and the phone. Check that first. No way that a fall like what you described could have damaged the phone. No way.
One foot drop no external damage return phone to seller and hope .
jje
why would i bull**** you..... i'm telling you the naked truth as someone else might have had same issue and i really want it working again considering turning it in for service as an unfortunate last resort...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgBUVyocApc
I got hit by a car when i was on my bike, I fell of the car on my left side, the side where my phone was in my jeans. The thing didnt even turn off..
I can tell you it was quite a hit! i was stunned that the phone survived..
then it's just my god damn luck..............
anyway it's good to hear you guys had "good" results with drops and phone is supposed to be strong..
one more thing is puzzling me, why did it turn on (for a few secs) after i turned it on...
I got hit by a car when i was on my bike, I fell of the car on my left side, the side where my phone was in my jeans. The thing didnt even turn off..
I can tell you it was quite a hit! i was stunned that the phone survived..
Im stunned that YOU survived lol
Tough luck, I guess. Mine has survived several drops (mostly from my shirt pocket) without any apparent damage. I have a CaseMate 'Barely There' case on it though -- maybe it actually works.
Sorry to hear, but there is zero chance that a phone will break like that.
So it must been bad to start with.
Take of the cover and look at the battery and the contacts so they are okey.
Why don't you have a warranty?
**DamianGTO ultimate kernel v1.2 * 600Hz * 345MB RAM * OC/UV * 1200MHZ**
Can't believe the phone its dead under these circumstances. Last week dropped mine onto concrete, approx 3 feet. Bezel is a bit grazed but phone working fine
Sent from my GTI9000 using XDA App, Froyo 2.2.1, Darky's v9.3, Voodoo 5.4.1, ADW launcher + gingerbread theme
thats one hell of a signature lol
Send it in for repair.
Mine has dropped countless number of times. The last drop on concrete was so bad that phone had a dent on the upper left edge. I picked it up and the monster continued to work like magic
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
If it's new then why doesn't it have warranty? Just say to them it stopped working, no need to say it fell.
I can vouch for the solidity of (my) SGS -- it's dropped from hip height onto concrete paving slabs, which grazed the back cover a little; and fell, when I was running, onto the pavement, bouncing along a few times and off the kerb, coming to rest under a car.
This scuffed the bezel a bit, but otherwise my phone is still as good as new.
The recessed glass certainly helps prevent the screen taking any of the hit.
Intratech said:
If it's new then why doesn't it have warranty? Just say to them it stopped working, no need to say it fell.
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the phone was a gift, it came from France, in the box there isn't any paperwork, i just have 2 large stickers on it (see bellow) is that the warranty?
is samsung warranty worldwide? i'm thinking not.... so Samsung Romania will tell me to send the phone to France and that will not happen.... (if those stickers represent a warranty that is)
Can i turn it in for service to Samsung if i pay for the repair? .....
Hi all, I've had my Nexus for about a month now. I've been extremely careful with it and hadn't dropped it once up until yesterday. It was on my lap in the car and took about a two foot fall to the ground when I got out of the car. It landed in a few inches of snow and then hit the concrete beneath, but didn't appear to suffer any water damage as I immediately pulled it out and began wiping it off. The phone suffered no apparent physical damage; it landed on the top edge near the headphone jack. It didn't bounce so it only hit the ground once. The only damage that can be seen is on the official bumper that was on it at the time: there are two minor dents in the plastic. None of the glass surfaces were scratched, chipped or cracked. Screen turned on and device seemed to be unaffected and working properly. Pheewwwww, looks like I dodged a bullet, right?
10 minutes later, while trying to use the phone, the screen starts to glitch out badly. Flickering, brightness going up and down, screen turning off and on, the image being displayed was moving around all over the place. There were three instances where it turned on and operated normally for a minute but then began glitching again. Then it would only turn on to a white screen, then it would sort of light up to a light gray but then slowly go back to a black screen. However, it still responded to touch with vibrations. So the phone was still on, and working, just not displaying an image. After the battery died, plugging it in to charge yields only the red light of death. No response from any button pressing combinations.
Does anyone else find it find of pathetic that this phone took this fall, suffered no external physical damage but apparently it's screen couldn't survive the shock? It would make more sense if it landed screen face down and broke the glass, but the phone appears completely undamaged and it's surprising that the internals didn't survive such a minor shock. Obviously, the official bumper didn't absorb any of it.
I don't expect any phone to be able to withstand being dropped from a considerable height, and even if a minor fall caused it obvious physical damage then I would accept it. But it should at the very least be durable enough to not be rendered useless by simple physical shock. Every phone gets dropped and should be built to withstand at least some of it.
Hopefully, I can get Google to send me a new phone.
Theax40 said:
Hi all, I've had my Nexus for about a month now. I've been extremely careful with it and hadn't dropped it once up until yesterday. It was on my lap in the car and took about a two foot fall to the ground when I got out of the car. It landed in a few inches of snow, but didn't appear to suffer any water damage as i immediately pulled it out and began wiping it off. The phone suffered no apparent physical damage; it landed on the top edge near the headphone jack. It didn't bounce so it only hit the ground once. The only damage that can be seen is on the official bumper that was on it at the time: there are two minor dents in the plastic. None of the glass surfaces were scratched, chipped or cracked. Screen turned on and device seemed to be unaffected and working properly. Pheewwwww, looks like I dodged a bullet, right?
10 minutes later, while trying to use the phone, the screen starts to glitch out badly. Flickering, brightness going up and down, screen turning off and on, the image being displayed was moving around all over the place. There were three instances where it turned on and operated normally for a minute but then began glitching again. Then it would only turn on to a white screen, then it would sort of light up to a light gray but then slowly go back to a black screen. However, it still responded to touch with vibrations. So the phone was still on, and working, just not displaying an image. After the battery died, plugging it in to charge yields only the red light of death. No response from any button pressing combinations.
Does anyone else find it find of pathetic that this phone took this fall, suffered no external physical damage but apparently it's screen couldn't survive the shock? It would make more sense if it landed screen face down and broke the glass, but the phone appears completely undamaged and it's surprising that the internals didn't survive such a minor shock. Obviously, the official bumper didn't absorb any of it.
I don't expect any phone to be able to withstand being dropped from a considerable height, and even if a minor fall caused it obvious physical damage then I would accept it. But it should at the very least be durable enough to not be rendered useless by simple physical shock. Every phone gets dropped and should be built to withstand at least some of it.
Hopefully, I can get Google to send me a new phone.
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Doesn't sound like it was the drop that killed it but the water. My guess is that a small amount of water got in and caused an issue. Could have been water that remained under the bumper and took a few minutes to soak in. Disassembly may fix the issue but not sure if you want to do that. No reason for google to send you a new phone. They did not drop it in the snow. :crying:
Theax40 said:
Hi all...
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Do you honestly expect people to read this in the Q&A section? Go to reddit for rants.
Anyways, whether a phone survives a drop (no matter the height) is pretty much entirely up to chance. It doesn't mean it's a build defect. I've seen drop tests of this phone from many feet and it's fine. I've accidentally dropped mine like 4 ft onto a tiled floor and it's fine.
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
mine fell out of a plane bounced of a volcano then got stomped on by a herd of elephants while studying in the african safari then got struck by lightning...no physical damage just lost root doing the 4.2.2 update
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
abnormalreply said:
Do you honestly expect people to read this in the Q&A section? Go to reddit for rants.
Anyways, whether a phone survives a drop (no matter the height) is pretty much entirely up to chance. It doesn't mean it's a build defect. I've seen drop tests of this phone from many feet and it's fine. I've accidentally dropped mine like 4 ft onto a tiled floor and it's fine.
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Sorry, it is a bit of a rant but really I just wanted people's opinions on why my particular phone proved so fragile. I removed the bumper to be sure there was no water left on the phone, and honestly it didn't get much snow on it at all. So I don't think it suffered any water damage.
I understand it's not Google's fault I dropped the phone but it's not my fault it couldn't endure a minor fall that didn't seem to cause it any damage. I've dropped every cell phone I've ever owned, numerous times and never had one break internally like this on the first drop. It's unacceptable.
Theax40 said:
Sorry, it is a bit of a rant but really I just wanted people's opinions on why my particular phone proved so fragile. I removed the bumper to be sure there was no water left on the phone, and honestly it didn't get much snow on it at all. So I don't think it suffered any water damage.
I understand it's not Google's fault I dropped the phone but it's not my fault it couldn't endure a minor fall that didn't seem to cause it any damage. I've dropped every cell phone I've ever owned, numerous times and never had one break internally like this on the first drop. It's unacceptable.
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From your own description of the problem I don't think you got it dried as well as you think you did. If it was damaged from the fall it would have probably happened right away. Your issue took 10 minutes to materialize. About the amount of time it would take water to seep in. Water damage is not a poor build or fragile phone issue. Water is the killer of phones.
grubbster said:
From your own description of the problem I don't think you got it dried as well as you think you did. If it was damaged from the fall it would have probably happened right away. Your issue took 10 minutes to materialize. About the amount of time it would take water to seep in. Water damage is not a poor build or fragile phone issue. Water is the killer of phones.
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I agree, water is bad. But the phone still responds to being plugged in. Blinking red light when plugged in and my PC shows it's connected. It's not fried from water damage. At this point it just won't turn on.
I dropped my Nexus S many times. I even dropped it in the toilet when I was slightly drunk (fell out of my top pocket!) but I was so quick I grabbed it before it got too wet and dried it off immediately! I highly doubt the Nexus 4 is as robust.
Definitely sounds like a water issue to me. Turn off your phone and put a bag of dry rice to help pull out the moisture.
P.S. The phone in lap syndrome is the number 1 killer of phones lol I had it happen to me before. It's just to easy to forget you put your phone there esp when you are in a hurry.
Rotellian said:
I dropped my Nexus S many times. I even dropped it in the toilet when I was slightly drunk (fell out of my top pocket!) but I was so quick I grabbed it before it got too wet and dried it off immediately! I highly doubt the Nexus 4 is as robust.
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There's no way my phone took on even a fraction of the amount of water that it would if I had dropped it into a puddle or a toilet like you did. That's what I'm trying to say. I told about it landing in snow so as to not leave out any details about the situation. And it seems that if it suffered water damage the entire thing would be a brick. But it still shows some signs of life.
Theax40 said:
There's no way my phone took on even a fraction of the amount of water that it would if I had dropped it into a puddle or a toilet like you did. That's what I'm trying to say. I told about it landing in snow so as to not leave out any details about the situation. And it seems that if it suffered water damage the entire thing would be a brick. But it still shows some signs of life.
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That is not true. The small amount of water could have only affected the circuit or a component that the screen uses.
smooth3d said:
That is not true. The small amount of water could have only affected the circuit or a component that the screen uses.
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Okay well its been nearly 24 hours since this happened. You think the water would've dried by now? The only place the snow could've gotten into the phone is probably the headphone jack. And there's no water corrosion on any of the contacts.
You should have dried it for 24 hrs before turning it on. Not turn it on, find problems, try to dry it.
Im going to assume since it landed near the headphone jack that some snow got pushed up into it. It being frozen probably didnt do much at the time but when it thawed out it probably ran down a VERY small part of the circuit board and is making the phone flip out. Water will not always 100% kill a device, it will only effect the part of the circuitry it is touching.
It is too early to see corrosion from it if you ever see any at all. Ive seen many water damaged devices that look totally fine on the outside but on the inside where the water got it turned all the solder joints green and crossed up a bunch of things.
I say if its still showing signs of life then you MAY have a chance. Like others have said put it in some rice for at least a couple days. DO NOT try and charge it or power it on anymore. Remember its not the water itself that usually damages things, its the power put to a wet device that does it.
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
Trying to turn the phone on after possible water damage was probably the dumbest thing you could have done. Water damage wouldn't completely fry the phone, as someone said it probably just shorted something.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
I took my car off road and blew out the tires and trashed the suspension. I want Ford to fix it for free.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
Theax40 said:
Sorry, it is a bit of a rant but really I just wanted people's opinions on why my particular phone proved so fragile. I removed the bumper to be sure there was no water left on the phone, and honestly it didn't get much snow on it at all. So I don't think it suffered any water damage.
I understand it's not Google's fault I dropped the phone but it's not my fault it couldn't endure a minor fall that didn't seem to cause it any damage. I've dropped every cell phone I've ever owned, numerous times and never had one break internally like this on the first drop. It's unacceptable.
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My god you had a bumper case also?? Damn that sucks. Sorry man.. I'm gonna get me some kind of ballistic case...
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
thedudejdog said:
I took my car off road and blew out the tires and trashed the suspension. I want Ford to fix it for free.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Hahahaha gr8 example:thumbup::thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium
Bhavik Jain said:
Hahahaha gr8 example:thumbup::thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9103 using xda premium
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No. It's not a good example. I didn't trash my phone on purpose and expect google to give me a new one. I didn't drop it out of a two story window, I didn't drag it through the mud, it didn't land in a puddle. It broke first time I ever dropped it. And like I said, it was a minor fall. If all phones were this fragile, no one would have a phone. If they all succumbed to such apparent minor water damage, you wouldn't know anyone who dropped their phone in the toilet and it still worked.
There's people all over this forum who rooted their phones, flashed it with a custom kernel or ROM, now their phone wont turn on and they expect a new phone from google even though they were knowingly screwing with their phones. I drop mine, it shows no physical damage, and everyone thinks I'm lying about the circumstances, as if I have to convince you people to send me a new phone. This is ridiculous. I joined this forum for a little bit of advice but really all I've gotten is criticism and doubt. I've got no reason to lie to you people about what happened.
You have no right to mock me, exaggerate what happened and act like I'm just some asshole who threw his phone against the wall and expects a new phone. Its pathetic. Thanks for your help, children.
Re: Minor drop of Nexus 4 killed the screen
You neglected to move the phone before exiting your car, your carelessness murdered your cell phone.
It's not a basketball, cell phones aren't made to bounce off the ground and survive.
It's not a rubber duck, cell phones aren't made to get wet.
I wish people would claim even an once of responsibility.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Bummer too because I just set it up how I like it.
I was fishing today and I had my S5 in my pocket.
Anyway to my embarrassment I actually fell in the water when I was trying to untangle my lure from some fishing line some asshole had just cut off his rod and left in the water.
The thing is, whilst the S5 is supposed to be IP64 certified or whatever, mine has lost the flimsy bottom cover...
I was in the water with the phone in my front jeans pocket for about 15 seconds. The phone barely had any water on it (it was also in a full case) though it did seem that some had gotten into the charging port.
I took the battery out, and left things to dry. Got home about an hour later after wiping the phone down and I used a hairdryer on it for about 15 minutes (not letting it get too hot though). After that I threw it with its back off in a bowl filled with rice and put it next to a slightly warm heater.
My girlfriend said when she was trying to turn it off (I told her to take the battery out but she was panicking) that the hardware buttons (back and recents) weren't working any more. She also said that she noticed the date and time was wrong. It said April 24 2006 and the SIM card icon had a circle with a line through it (No reception). The home button she said worked fine though.
What chance do you think I have that the phone will work after it's been in the bowl of rice next to the heater?
EDIT: Found 3 packets of silica gel, I ripped those open and threw that stuff in there with the rice too.
leijonasisu said:
Bummer too because I just set it up how I like it.
I was fishing today and I had my S5 in my pocket.
Anyway to my embarrassment I actually fell in the water when I was trying to untangle my lure from some fishing line some asshole had just cut off his rod and left in the water.
The thing is, whilst the S5 is supposed to be IP64 certified or whatever, mine has lost the flimsy bottom cover...
I was in the water with the phone in my front jeans pocket for about 15 seconds. The phone barely had any water on it (it was also in a full case) though it did seem that some had gotten into the charging port.
I took the battery out, and left things to dry. Got home about an hour later after wiping the phone down and I used a hairdryer on it for about 15 minutes (not letting it get too hot though). After that I threw it with its back off in a bowl filled with rice and put it next to a slightly warm heater.
My girlfriend said when she was trying to turn it off (I told her to take the battery out but she was panicking) that the hardware buttons (back and recents) weren't working any more. She also said that she noticed the date and time was wrong. It said April 24 2006 and the SIM card icon had a circle with a line through it (No reception). The home button she said worked fine though.
What chance do you think I have that the phone will work after it's been in the bowl of rice next to the heater?
EDIT: Found 3 packets of silica gel, I ripped those open and threw that stuff in there with the rice too.
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i have had better results with letting it dry in open air, under the sun....take the back off (ofcourse the battery aswell) and place it under the sun with screen facing downwards.....let it dry for an hour or so...check
You need to leave it in a moisture absorbing product (dry rice/silica granules) for a LOT longer than an hour or so.....24 hours OR LONGER is more realistic. Preferably in an airing cupboard too......
It's going to take a lot longer to dry out than leaving it in the sun for an hour, as I assume you weren't able to start the drying process immediately and the water would have had time to get further into the phone.......
In cases like these, it's always best to let it dry for 'too' long than not long enough....
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F
Thanks. I let it dry for 15 hours, I guess it wasn't enough. Also yeah it took at least an hour for me to get the phone back to my apartment. The antenna seems to work fine but the hardware buttons are indeed screwed. I know I can use those on-screen hardware buttons if I toggle them somewhere from Xposed or an App or something. So not all is lost, but I'd really like my normal ones back. At this time I just guess that some water got into the bottom of the phone and shorted out the touch sensors or something. I wonder how much it would cost to get this repaired or if I could get away with having it replaced on warranty or something... Everything else on the phone seems to be fine. Screen, antenna, etc. it doesn't seem like any water got very far in.
Either way I am going to put it back in the rice/silica gel combo and see how that goes. I'll leave it in for 24 hours this time.
Okay so the capacitive buttons at the bottom (menu and back) are definitely broken from getting wet.
What chance do I have at returning the phone and just claiming that they just stopped working? Left the phone in rice and silica gel for what seems like forever and there doesn't seem to be any traces of moisture or water at all.
Worst case scenario Sammy sends the phone back and states that it was water damage and they won't fix it? Best case they fix it under warranty??
Highly unlikely it'll get fixed under warranty......
These phones have stickers placed 'strategically' inside them which change colour if they get wet.....Samsung will take one look at your phone and say.....yeah right......NO chance....
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F
Well I'm going to have a try at it, the white square that marks if it got wet down the bottom corner where the battery goes is completely white, and not red. Worst case they won't fix it for free. If it costs anything less than €100 to fix then I will get it fixed, otherwise I'll shop around and see if I can get a third party to fix it or sort out what my options are. I'm flashing it back to stock now and I'm going to clean the phone and then take it into the store and ask them to fix it.
Normally if they won't fix it under warranty they will send me a text message telling me how much it is going to cost to fix, and then if I want to pay. At the very least I should probably pay, as long as it isn't upwards of around €100 because it restores the resale value on my phone and I can make more than the amount back when I eventually sell it.
I really think Samdung should have put more thought into the bottom USB cover though. Mine and my friend's broke within about 2 months.
Anyway I'll post back on what happens later on.
If you can prove it drowned due to a faulty charger cover, you might have a case
I told the guy in the shop I bought it from what happened and he looked at it and said there is no sign of water damage. He said it should be repaired under warranty but not to 'quote' him on it happening. I'll report back in 2-3 weeks and say what happened.
I couldn't really complain about a 'faulty usb cover' when the whole damn thing fell off about 6 months ago.
I looked at a bunch of disassembly videos of the S5. Seems there are 3 main water damage stickers. 2 which are visible from the back. One behind the battery, one behind a little 'square' on the left-hand side of the phone. Both of mine were pure white. There's also another on the battery, except that mine didn't have a spot for it which was weird. The battery was a stock one I got from the same store.
That leaves 1 more which is in the middle of the phone behind the circuitry which I cannot see and I doubt very much that it is anything but pure white. So I think I have a good chance to have it replaced under warranty.
Also the bottom part of the phone's PCB is actually remove-and-replaceable. So if something there shorted out behind the capacitive buttons perhaps they will just throw that piece away and click in a new one.
Who knows.
Yeah, although this phone has ip67 protection, it doesnt do much with samsungs "engineering capabilities" - i have this phone too, and i can say, that this phone has at least 3 weak points, that makes ip67 to ip20 (first number is resistance to dust, second is resistance to water, higher is better) - so, the weak points are : 1) usb connection cover does not fully close, it is stuck out by like a 1-2mm, which i believe leaves some kind of space for water to flow in; 2) back cover does not fully stick to the back of the phone near the camera, you can press in that place to feel that there is empty space, which makes protection gum on back cover kind of useless, because it does not fully stick to the phone and will let water flow; 3) that corner of back cover, which was made to start removing back cover, does not fully stick to the phone, which leaves an empty space of about 1mm for the water to flow in. So to add everything up, even if s5 has ip67, i do not recommend testing it, because it only might work only with a new phone, but when you use your phone, some parts of phone gets out of the shape really fast, like usb connection cover, so it will decrease resistence to water a lot. Anyway, if you are above the water with your phone, i recommend doing good old trick, whick works with all phones - put your phone in a baloon or a condom - this protection will be 100 times better than anything that samsung will offer us in 1000 years.
I don't care if they tell me it is 100% waterproof, under 100 miles of water, for 100 years - I`ll still keep that theory for the day I accidentally drop it in a puddle - Im not going to purposely put any phone in water, no matter how 'safe' Im told it is
About a month ago, I knocked a pint of beer over my phone.......I had a moment when I started panicking about the phone......then I remembered IP67 and rinsed the phone off under the tap......then I started cursing myself for wasting a pint of beer........
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F
The outer area under the back cover is not sealed. May still contain some beer for emergency situations.
Lol.....that'd look really good wouldn't it?
Me walking down the street sucking my phone....
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F
I used the S5 plenty in the rain and I didn't worry putting it next to the sink or something. I don't think I ever actually fully wet it, but the screen did get covered in water at times in the rain. To me the IP67 rating was always something that meant the phone wasn't made of 'paper', in that it wouldn't be ruined in the rain, but I shouldn't exactly take a bath with it. I've read blogs etc. however that state that it is prone to some pretty nasty moisture damage if you take it into the shower or sauna with you. Though I suppose that is stating the obvious.
Point is, I think the water protection on the S5 is pretty garbage. On paper (no pun intended) it might look good that it is IP67, but let 1 drop into the bottom USB port with the cover off and you've lost both capacitive buttons as well as gained an issue that the phone constantly thinks that it is overheating after the screen turns off (funnily enough doesn't happen unless the screen goes black) and will try and reboot itself continuously. You can't even charge the phone because in a hilarious work of irony, it states that the battery is too cold!
Everything is only as strong as its weakest component and I found that usb cover to be about as weak as it gets. It only took 4 weeks for it to stop closing properly, and another 4 weeks for it to actually fall off... all just with regular use. Anyone is free to look around the web and see similar complaints of how cheap and flimsy the cover is. It would have made much more sense if it closed magnetically, or even if they had made the bottom cover replaceable so when they wore out, they could be replaced. To me it just feels like a typical scenario of Samdung trying to cover as many 'bases' as they can with regards to 'listed perks' without actually thinking about things from a long-term constructive or realistic point of view.
You can see from the S6 and the Note variants that they have abandoned further development towards water resistance and have saved it purely for their 'active' variants. I would have gotten one of those despite how ugly they are if they didn't come with a dumbed down CPU and Camera.
This will be my last Samsung phone anyway. I'll go the HTC or LG route after this.
The S5 is useless in the rain for me, a few drops on the screen and it thinks I'm pressing buttons, phone becomes self-aware and does what it wants until I turn the screen off and dry it, then it works until the next raindrop hits it
Lol.....as long as it doesn't turn into one of those nasty little decepticons out of Transformers you're fine.....
And the S5 will be my last Samsung device too.....not happy with certain aspects of the S6 that look certain to appear on further generations of Samsung devices in the future....
Sent from my rooted, debloated stocKK kn0x0 SM-G900F
Wouldn't surprise me if it did
Been a few times I've pulled it out of my pocket and it's been all set to call someone, just needed to hit the call button and I'd have the borrowers talking to me from my coat
I treat the ip67 rating like I treat the air bags in my car. It's nice to know is there in case of an accident but I'm not going out of my way to test it.
Tybalt said:
I treat the ip67 rating like I treat the air bags in my car. It's nice to know is there in case of an accident but I'm not going out of my way to test it.
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This ^^
Safety net, not a feature