[Q] Water stickers set off by sweat/condensation in an Otterbox Defender...? - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshoot

So I've lately had one issue with my GS4, it shows signs of the "Loss of Service" bug that the GS2 was having for a while. It randomly drops calls and service completely, sometimes will bounce back to service but sometimes it locks into No Service mode and drains the battery; only fix is to enable and then disable airplane mode. So anyway, I've tried everything to fix it and Sprint wont give me a new phone, and I didn't want to take a refurb since I've had it for only 2 months. The guy at the store usually does everything he can for me, but I understand his hands are tied and can't issue a new phone on the spot, even though it has consistent issues.
Soooo getting to the punch line here, sorry for the backstory. In troubleshooting the phone, we had the battery out and the tech had the phone apart, noticing that the water stickers have been activated. Now I would be honest if I had submerged the phone or gotten it wet in any way, but I truly have not. The only thing I can think of is that my phone is ALWAYS encased in it's Otterbox Defender case, and 80% of the time it's in my pocket. I do tree work, and I kid you not I am drenched in sweat all day every day. Is it possible that the water stickers activated from the sweat and condensation trapped in the case and phone? I usually have to take my case apart to wipe the moisture from in between the cases screen protector and phone. Samsung probably wont issue me a new phone under their warranty now (which was my only option for a NEW phone at this point)...Any input on the possibilities and way to prove it? Also, there is 0 corrosion on the phone, we inspected it very thoroughly. Any help is appreciated, cheers!

Yes humidity or condensation can definitely trigger the water damage sticker. As for what you should do, don't you have insurance, file a claim.
This message brought to you in part by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4

GiantJay said:
Yes humidity or condensation can definitely trigger the water damage sticker. As for what you should do, don't you have insurance, file a claim.
This message brought to you in part by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
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Insurance is $200 when it's water damage I believe...

vadyr56 said:
Insurance is $200 when it's water damage I believe...
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Idk what insurance you have. But it's better than $500-$650. Put it in a bag of rice for a day or two. With the cover off and the battery out. It will get the moisture out.
This message brought to you in part by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4

Apple recently lost a lawsuit for refusing to repair phones that had the faulty sensors which would/could change color due to humidity alone.
[h**p://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57586562-37/apple-settles-iphone-water-damage-lawsuit-for-$53m/]

Insurance claim is $150.
It is known by the industry the the liquid indicators may at times be too sensitive and are sometimes put it poor locations.
Even with knowing this, it is an easy excuse to not replace your unit. All providers do it.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

You could, depending on where you live, claim high humidity as the culprit. In the southern states, where it's usually 70%+ humidity all the time, overly sensitive stickers could be triggered. Where I live, it's usually 80 plus every day. I just checked weather bug now, and at 3am where I live, it's 95% humidity and no rain nearby.

Very good point about the humidity also. I live in rural PA and it does tend to get incredibly humid in the spring and summer. Between the humidity, and having my phone in the pocket of my sweaty carhartt pants encased in an otterbox, I can imagine the moisture would really collect in there. The true test will be getting a new battery and checking it periodically to see if that sticker activates eventually. I will also check the phone sticker in a few weeks, seeing as I went the refurb route to get a new phone. Since getting a brand new one wasn't happening for me, I just did the service exchange and the water damage may have slipped the tech's mind. Now if my phone breaks 5 more times, Sprint will give me a new device, so we'll see what happens. I appreciate all the input, hopefully other people don't have this issue!

Related

HELP!!! The Toilet attacked!!

I just did the unthinkable!! I dropped my hour old titan in the toilet... but here's the problem I have disassembled everything and made sure it is perfectly dry but it still wont work. All I need to know is:
On the OEM battery is there a water damage indicator?
On the top of mine there is a red dot to the left of the contacts, could some benevolent soul take their battery out and see if there is a red dot on the top and possibly post a picture???
Thanks a million!!
A picture isn't really necessary, could someone just tell me whether or not their battery looks like this
Mine is white
If the only water damage indicator is on the battery, maybe you could just get a replacement battery first.
Best option is insurance, but it might be a little late for that.
#@$% hum I wonder where I could by a new battery before I try to return it... Thanks for your help!!!
Paypal $25 to [email protected] and I'll mail you mine. I got two through an insurance accident. that includes shipping to the US...
there is a water damage indicator, it's a white sticker under the battery, if it's blue, they won't replace it, they don't cover water damage even with insurance.
best bet, and tell me you got insurance and if you didn't call htem said it's an hour old, get insurance added.
then claim it was run over by a truck, and get a new unit.
oh, there was an article on gizmodo or lifehacker that talked about how to dry out a device was literally put it on rice for a few days.
mine is white too
I would almost be certain that there are other water damage indicator strips inside the device in addition to the one on the battery.
Too Funny
As I would like to remain professional and will refrain from using every smiley face in the list to the right 1000 times. And I also would like to say how much I feel your pain. I absolutely must ask: What were you doing on the toilet with your titan only an hour after buying it??!! <end roflmao>
If your mogul is brand new,call them up and tell them that you want the insurance. You have something like 30 days or something to get the insurance. They will then just replace the phone.
White dot on mine as well.
Ectropian said:
As I would like to remain professional and will refrain from using every smiley face in the list to the right 1000 times. And I also would like to say how much I feel your pain. I absolutely must ask: What were you doing on the toilet with your titan only an hour after buying it??!! <end roflmao>
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What I was on the toilet with my mogul within the first hour as well...hell on the toilet with my Mogul as we speak....ahhh hell I never go to the toilet without it...now if only I had brung some tp along
ewww, your phone smells like poopy.
Play DUMB.....thats the best thing to do....if it really was only an hour before take it back play dumb ..."its not working?"...
I had a "friend" who did this at BB after running a Sanyo 4900 over with a truck.....
YES... it worked....
I have not confirmed that this works but I heard that if you get a ziplock baggie and put the pieces in it with Silicate packets for over 24 hours that it will absorb the moisture out. Make sure you squeeze all the air out. A buddy said it turned the red dots white again for him.
Smells Like Tulips in Spring
sanjsrik said:
ewww, your phone smells like poopy.
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I got the Air fresh Today Plugin that sprays Oust.
sanjsrik said:
there is a water damage indicator, it's a white sticker under the battery, if it's blue, they won't replace it, they don't cover water damage even with insurance.
best bet, and tell me you got insurance and if you didn't call htem said it's an hour old, get insurance added.
then claim it was run over by a truck, and get a new unit.
oh, there was an article on gizmodo or lifehacker that talked about how to dry out a device was literally put it on rice for a few days.
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Verizons insurance will cover water damage. Besides if they didn't you can tell them it was "lost," they cover that also.
It's done!
Thanks for all the help guys!! I went and bought a new battery at altel (I'm with sprint) then dried the phone over night with rice, then blew it out with a CO2 duster. The cool thing is, after all that the phone WORKED!!! not very well though so I took it back and said I bought it the day before and the screen was jacked up.... they didn't even open it... (It was running at the time so i guess they didn't suspect water damage)
and for all of you who were wondering I was reaching from the sink across the toilet to grab a towel and knocked it in (after playing hacky sack with it for like 5 seconds....)
Again thanks for all the help, I'm going to try the silicate gel thing and see if I can return the battery I ruined
FYI - Water damage appears to be covered for Sprint customers...
I had my (first) Mogul from 5-2007 through 12-2007, when a very unfortunate thing happened...it leaped from my hip into the only water for *at least* one square mile. I phoned Asurion (Sprint's insurance provider) and explained the occurance (I hadn't previously even considered that water damage might not be covered). Simply stated...they sent me a new phone and I paid the 'deductable' and all was right...except for the lackluster performance of this particular device
sprint covers water damage, but only if u have the Equipment Replacement Plan...not Equipment Service plan. the ERP covers just loss and water damage, and it is only $4 by it self..another type of insureance is also avalible, it includes both ERP and ESP and it costs $7.

Bell - Exchanging a washed Vogue?

Turns out I decided to call Bell and tell them about all of the legitimate problems I'd been having with the phone a while back, at which time they decided to exchange it. Unfortunately, I didn't take the exchange at that point in time as I wanted to try and get my data backed up first. That was dumb! Not too long afterwards I put my phone through the wash machine and the LCD flaked out a couple of days later when it appeared to have completely dried out (put it a few inches above an oil heat register for 2 days). In any event, the main white sticker is still white and didn't turn pink or blue.
Having said all of that, do you folks think I should pull out a heat gun and a razor to try and check the other stickers without damaging the VOID sticker, or do you think I should just go ahead with the exchange?
Not that I would try... but I've heard of people soaking the return packing labels and boxes in water to try and make it look like the (water) damage was caused by the shipping company. Sounds somewhat sleezy to me, but I really, really can't afford to eat a $400 replacement bill right now .
Regardless, any insight or help would be kindly appreciated!
No one? =-\
Does anyone at least know Bell's policy on charging the customer or contacting them if there is water damage? IE: What's the worst case scenario?
THe stickers Are brittle also. They will break if you try to remove them. IF your stickers are fine then they should do warrenty for your other issues.
I wouldn't bother opening it.
I don't know how much Bell charges for a swap unit but you are just better off taking the risk as long as you are prepared to be charged.
There are a bunch of other litmus stickers inside the phone which most likely have been contacted.
I worked at a cell phone dealership (telus) for a couple of years so this situation is quite common.

Washing machine x HTC HD2

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!
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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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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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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!
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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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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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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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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.

Water Proof DHD

Using the mobile in a bath, obviously without any direct water contact, later I placed the mobile by the side of the bath.
Upon using the mobile (out of the bathroom) I noticed the mobile was a little moist and wet on the behind - as the rubber case had caught some water.
I wiped this, and a few minutes later when the mobile was on standby, the car dock app opens up automatically.
Then moments later the screen begins to flicker and turn bright - dim - black - bright. Removed the battery and found some water inside, the lower case was the same, found traces of water on the simcard and memory card.
I left the mobile in front of a heater for 10 minutes, but everything back and its working. The battery case has a label which seems to have some water trapped as you can see this label is slightly lifted now.
Im glad its working as I don't think it would have been repaired under warranty firstly due to water damage and 2ndly due to it having custom rom.
Would you guys know if rain damage is covered under warranty, as surely this would be general usage and HTC don't even supply a cover/case in the box.
I don't take my phone in the bathroom due to condensation... which is what caused your problems.
I doubt rain damage will be covered by warranty... since it's within the users power to not use it in the rain and not get it wet!
Common sense prevails... or at least should previal
There's a indicator in the phone that will change colour after contact with liquids. When its red/pink you can forget about any warranty.
CitizenLee said:
I don't take my phone in the bathroom due to condensation... which is what caused your problems.
I doubt rain damage will be covered by warranty... since it's within the users power to not use it in the rain and not get it wet!
Common sense prevails... or at least should previal
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I understand you may use common sense, but at times you get tempted, like everyone today is tempted by waswasa of the shaiytan, but do we heed to take common sense - no we get brainwashed by the biased media like sheep.
shah_jee said:
I understand you may use common sense, but at times you get tempted, like everyone today is tempted by waswasa of the shaiytan, but do we heed to take common sense - no we get brainwashed by the biased media like sheep.
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I don't pay attention to the media either. Like you say it's biased and only serves to brainwash and cause confusion, panic and alarm
How's your phone now anyway? Any problems or is all ok?
shah_jee said:
Using the mobile in a bath,
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ummmm, WHAT?
shah_jee said:
using the mobile in a bath, obviously without any direct water contact, later i placed the mobile by the side of the bath.
Upon using the mobile (out of the bathroom) i noticed the mobile was a little moist and wet on the behind - as the rubber case had caught some water.
I wiped this, and a few minutes later when the mobile was on standby, the car dock app opens up automatically.
Then moments later the screen begins to flicker and turn bright - dim - black - bright. Removed the battery and found some water inside, the lower case was the same, found traces of water on the simcard and memory card.
I left the mobile in front of a heater for 10 minutes, but everything back and its working. The battery case has a label which seems to have some water trapped as you can see this label is slightly lifted now.
Im glad its working as i don't think it would have been repaired under warranty firstly due to water damage and 2ndly due to it having custom rom.
Would you guys know if rain damage is covered under warranty, as surely this would be general usage and htc don't even supply a cover/case in the box.
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Click to collapse
what were u thinking??????????
Well,I too take my phone to the bathroom at two circumstances:When I'm having a shower and when I...ermm...poo(sorry ladies...if there are any around here! ).
Well,in the first case I only hear music and cover it with my T-Shirt so that it's safe from moisture.
In the second case,well,I do have the window open for reasons I don't really have to clarify here and no moisture there.
So my phone is safe in my bathroom.
There is some water proof casings for DHD try to google for ''otterbox'' saw one there.
Good luck with your device. Most phones and electronics says nighty night after a while when they've been wet.
No problem with water on electronics.
It the shorting it does when its powerd thats the actual problem.
But yeah taking your phone into the bathroom is not smart.
We have a sauna and i do take my phone (and a portable speakerset) in there but i put it in a (thin) plastic bag seal that up and can still use the screen. Love to hear music in the sauna.
Use Ziplock Bag
Hi guy if you need to bring your HTC into a bath or to accompany you in the bathroom for other purposes you can use a water tight ziplock bag to contain it. It will prevent the phone from contacting moisture AND you can still use the touchscreen.
I used to have a blackberry (obviously belonging to my my company ) that I bring into my weekly sauna session. It lasted a good 2 years in that humidity and heat! When it finally malfunctioned I realised it was because of some leaks in the ziplock bag. So remember to change the bag often.
My Desire, on the other hand, did not last as long coz I brought it into the bath room with no ziplock. In 9 months I am forced to switch to the DHD.
So ziplock bag yah?
i dropped my Desire HD in the snow .. it became all wet .. took out the battery, kept it warm for a half day and its still working fine with no problem at all .. Been almost 2 month now

Water Damage - My story

It's pretty late here so i'm going to keep this simple.
I preordered a black s7 the day it was announced, got it on March 7. Had an s6 before.
It's amazing and all, but what was not so amazing for me was the water resistance.
It got pretty dirty after 1 day of use, so I thought it was a good idea to gently wash it with water and soap - Samsung claims it's water resistant, right?
As soon as i finished washing it, the phone started acting like I was pressing the volume down button. Shortly after that, it started showing the wireless charging animation, again and again.
I decided to power it off, I got my hair dryer and I ejected the sim tray ; was very surprised to find water all over my sim card and the sim tray itself. The water damage indicator/sticker was also touched by the water, making it turn from white to red/pink.
After heating it up with the hair dryer moderately, I powered it on. Surprise, it won't get past the "Galaxy S7" boot screen, like most Samsung Galaxy phones do in case water enters the phone.
It was rebooting after 10 seconds and doing the same thing. This lasted for 10 minutes. My biggest concern here was amoled burn in (google it if you don't know what it means). I managed to boot to recovery and power it off.
I waited for this phone a lot, 3 months to be exact, and turning it into a brick after 1 day of having it is not a good feeling at all.
I put my phone in a bag of rice and left it on the desk. 3 hours later (i had to go somewhere), I got it out of the bag of rice, and powered it on. It went to recovery, I chose to reboot to system, and it did boot. All the features and sensors were working.
Last night I tried rebooting it and it would do the same thing like it did after I washed it. Left it in rice overnight and today morning it booted up. So yeah, something is still broken, but at least I have it working now.
I think the soap caused the water to enter the phone.
I suggest you don't try to wash your phone like I did.
wow. so much for water resistance.
*edit*whoops didn't read the part about soap. yeah, only like lukewarm water they suggest.
Water Resistant, Not waterproof. Tell Samsung about this and they'll tell you all about it.
Water resistant means just that it doesn't mean that it is solvent or cleaner resistant, no cleaners ever just water I feel your pain sir I had to learn this the hard way as well.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Why on earth did you use soap? :silly:
Soap lower water surface tension and make water more intrusive though small opening I guess.
So don't use soap lol.
Sent from my SM-A9000 using Tapatalk
OP, you'll have fanbois jumping all over you wanting to educate you on water resistance and water proof like its rocket science. Point is that they are all wrong. IP 68 means you should be able to do exactly what you did - wash your phone off in water for a few minutes. These S7s just don't seem to be holding up to their IP 68 ratings (I returned an Edge because an underwater photo caused water resistance to fail and fast charging to not work anymore).
Feel your pain. Send it back under buyer's remorse and get another one.
xxaarraa said:
OP, you'll have fanbois jumping all over you wanting to educate you on water resistance and water proof like its rocket science. Point is that they are all wrong. IP 68 means you should be able to do exactly what you did - wash your phone off in water for a few minutes. These S7s just don't seem to be holding up to their IP 68 ratings (I returned an Edge because an underwater photo caused water resistance to fail and fast charging to not work anymore).
Feel your pain. Send it back under buyer's remorse and get another one.
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OP used soap. It wasn't the water, it was the soap. Soap is a base and messes up all kinds of things. Possibly reacted with the nano coating or the seals.
I've washed my S5 several times with soap - and that is only IP67-rated. Should be fine.
ironbesterer said:
OP used soap. It wasn't the water, it was the soap.
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+1
This is a fact:
NonXtreme said:
Soap lower water surface tension and make water more intrusive though small opening I guess.
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A few weeks ago I watched a video on how Samsung obtained it's IP68 rating for the S7/E. The video explicitly mentions relying on the surface tension of water to keep it out of microscreens for components like the speaker. Lower the surface tension of water, and it will flow places it didn't before.
Lesson learned for all of us.
mstrandbo said:
I've washed my S5 several times with soap - and that is only IP67-rated. Should be fine.
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Apples to oranges. The two devices have totally different construction. Anyone who takes your advice with an S7/E is headed for the same trouble as the OP.
After checking out a teardown of an S5, I do see the difference speakerwise - the S5 have a selfcontained speaker, which can handle water - while the S7 doesn't and as you said, relies on surface tension. That's not good..
mstrandbo said:
After checking out a teardown of an S5, I do see the difference speakerwise - the S5 have a selfcontained speaker, which can handle water - while the S7 doesn't and as you said, relies on surface tension. That's not good..
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And the S5 doesn't have internal gaskets on an SIM/SD slot or it's USB port.
wpbogdan said:
It's pretty late here so i'm going to keep this simple.
I preordered a black s7 the day it was announced, got it on March 7. Had an s6 before.
It's amazing and all, but what was not so amazing for me was the water resistance.
It got pretty dirty after 1 day of use
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You should have learned at the physics classes in school that water does not conduct electricity, but as soon as you add soap it becomes a conductor. So you have shorted all the exposed connections, like the USB pins, headphone jack pins and what not. The water resistance of the phone is not based on protecting the SIM tray, the seals are between the SIM tray and the rest of the phone, so you also shorted the SIM contacts.
At least now you know
Cst79 said:
You should have learned at the physics classes in school that water does not conduct electricity, but as soon as you add soap it becomes a conductor. So you have shorted all the exposed connections, like the USB pins, headphone jack pins and what not. The water resistance of the phone is not based on protecting the SIM tray, the seals are between the SIM tray and the rest of the phone, so you also shorted the SIM contacts.
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And that's why all my phone's features still work and nothing is damaged?
Thanks to everyone who replied to my thread, I went today to the carrier I bought the phone from (Orange)'s store and they told me to send it to warranty, and that's what i'm going to do. Hopefully i get my phone replaced, lol
It sucks that if i want it to boot i have to wait a day with my phone in rice, that also means bye bye installing new firmware which is the reason why i'm sending it to warranty since I always loved flashing custom roms, besides that I wouldn't really mind waiting a day for it to boot but I'm afraid that one day it will not boot anymore.
wpbogdan said:
And that's why all my phone's features still work and nothing is damaged?
Thanks to everyone who replied to my thread, I went today to the carrier I bought the phone from (Orange)'s store and they told me to send it to warranty, and that's what i'm going to do. Hopefully i get my phone replaced, lol
It sucks that if i want it to boot i have to wait a day with my phone in rice, that also means bye bye installing new firmware which is the reason why i'm sending it to warranty since I always loved flashing custom roms, besides that I wouldn't really mind waiting a day for it to boot but I'm afraid that one day it will not boot anymore.
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You don't have "buyer's remorse" where you live? Here in the US, we get 14 days (20 in some cases) to return the phone no questions asked for a full refund.
wpbogdan said:
And that's why all my phone's features still work and nothing is damaged?
Thanks to everyone who replied to my thread, I went today to the carrier I bought the phone from (Orange)'s store and they told me to send it to warranty, and that's what i'm going to do. Hopefully i get my phone replaced, lol
It sucks that if i want it to boot i have to wait a day with my phone in rice, that also means bye bye installing new firmware which is the reason why i'm sending it to warranty since I always loved flashing custom roms, besides that I wouldn't really mind waiting a day for it to boot but I'm afraid that one day it will not boot anymore.
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Click to collapse
Hmmm, I could swear I saw somewhere that Samsung will look for the white tags that turn pink when wet. If they see that the tag got wet then they won't honor a warranty. Not sure if this is true but somewhere today I read that. I think it was that tear down of the S7 ifixit did. or it was a link from there.
Corwinder said:
Hmmm, I could swear I saw somewhere that Samsung will look for the white tags that turn pink when wet. If they see that the tag got wet then they won't honor a warranty. Not sure if this is true but somewhere today I read that. I think it was that tear down of the S7 ifixit did. or it was a link from there.
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Click to collapse
You can see them clearly in this video:
I have an update, and I want to describe here exactly what happens every time I power it on:
Galaxy S7 screen -> boots straight into recovery.
Every time I reboot from recovery it does the following:
Galaxy S7 screen -> completely black screen -> Galaxy S7 screen -> recovery.
Every single time it enters recovery, it displays an android figure with two refresh arrows spinning, then displaying a yellow exclamation mark warning and shows the recovery options. Does it do this only for me or for you guys too?
I have tried to:
reflash the rom both via odin and kies
factory reset a bunch of times
wipe cache a bunch of times
I have done everything possible to get rid of ALL the water, and I'm sure there is no more water in it. I vacuum'ed the motherboard and left it in rice for 3 nights. does the same thing.
Warranty is also gone because the water damage indicator turned red/pink from white.
I think it's either permanent physical damage to the motherboard, or the water damaged the emmc chip and somehow corrupted the memory (???)
I also made a video of me powering it on, then rebooting it, but I'm unable to post it because new members can't post links until they've reached 10 posts.
also sorry for any grammar mistakes it's 6am lol
Corwinder said:
Water Resistant, Not waterproof. Tell Samsung about this and they'll tell you all about it.
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Actually by stating that it's IP68, it should mean that the device is indeed water PROOF. IDK why would samsung conflict the two things. If it's water resistant only, samsung should've stated that it's only IP67. False advertisement don't you think?
True story:
When he was 8, my little brother snuck our pet snapping turtles out into the woods behind our house and played with them in a muddy puddle. Thinking he would get in trouble for taking them out of their bowl and getting them dirty, he washed them with soap and hot water, which killed them. I was traumatized by their deaths, and have never used soap since.
So at least my S7E is safe.

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