iPhone 4; into the lake...

[ian ashton]

So, I go on my boat virtually every day, always with my phone, and I've never even gotten it wet. Today I ran out to the marina to make sure the cover was on and the ropes were tied since we put it away in the dark last night, and (whilst wearing a suit) I managed to drop my phone into the lake. It was submerged for about a minute, but it is still on! I can see when people call and text, but the touch screen isn't working, so I can't unlock or reply. I'm pretty amazed actually.

I have it 'soaking in rice' right now, hoping it comes back to life, at least short term until the iPhone 5 comes out, it would suck to buy another 4 a month or 2 before the new release.

I'm sure many others have had similar experiences, lets hear your stories of stupidity!

[kaneboats]

Sorry to hear it. Don't worry too much if you have to get another i4. You can sell it in a heartbeat on Craigslist and get your money back. In fact, that's where I'd look for the temporary one.

[tnbrooks01]

Its took about 48hrs for my 3Gs to come back to life after being in the water for approx 1 minute. I did the rice in a bag thing and the only thing was one of the speakers no longer worked.

Good luck!!

[ian ashton]

I have 2 contingency plans, if the rice doesn't work; 1 is that a buddy of mine thinks he has his old 3GS from when he switched from ATT to VZW - if he does I'll swing by his house and pick it up tonight. If not, I'll go get another iPhone 4 and use it until the 5 comes out, at which time I'll give L my iPhone 4, and I'll get the 5 (nearly the exact same thing I did with my 3GS when I got the iPhone 4, lol)

Luckily I started using GoogleVoice, so I can retrieve my incoming calls on my office and home line while the mobile is out of commission!

[ian ashton]

Well the touch screen is working! The speakers are not yet functional, lol. At least I can text! Back into the rice she goes!

[KG's Supra24]

This isn't all bad ... sounds like a great time to convert to Droid :) It is usually recommended to take the battery out but ...... :)

My wife dropped hers right in the wine glass a couple weeks ago. Bag of rice and we are up and running the next morning.

[rdlangston13]

About a month ago we were out at the lake and we had launched at the marina about half a mile from the lake house by water. We decided to just leave the truck at the marina and drive the boat to the lake house to meet my girls parents since we were not planning on being out very long. The cove the lake house is in is shallow and slowly slopes to deeper water and we don't have a pier yet so I use an anchor buddy to keep my boat put. I had dropped the anchor buddy attached to the front of the boat, and I had jumped out the back of the boat with a long line to tie to shore. When I jumped in the water was about was deep and the anchor buddy was stretched pretty good and I need more rope to get to shore so I asked my girl to bring me the other rope out of the boat. While I was waiting on her the anchor buddy pulled the boat out to slightly deeper water and she did not notice. She had her purse with both of our Iphone 4s in it around her shoulder, a cookie cake (it was my birthday) in one hand, and the rope in the other and jumps out thinking it is only waste deep. Well the water immediately goes up to her chest and dunks the purse submerging out Iphones. They were under water for maybe 15 secs but the damage was done. Did the whole rice thing and hers would not come on and mine would come on but shut off after about 3 minutes. Went to the apple store the next day and they took care of us, 2 refurbished iphone 4s at no charge.

[jpetty3023]

^^ like the apple dig, throw it in while you can huh...lmao dont think he"ll ever switch to droid thou!

if she dont come back to life grab you a cheap one off craigslist and wait a month or so for the iPhone 5. looks like 09.29 pre-orders will start with public release/delivery 10.7 or so

[wolfeman131]

Ian,

Isn't there a bit more to the story that you would like to share?

he, he, he . . . . I read your fb post.

[wolfeman131]

So, I will share my phone in the lake story. .

I was playing a bit of hooky from work and stayed out at the lake home on a Monday. We had a Mgt calls on Monday afternoons, so decided to get some time out on the lake in the morning. Realized that my phone was in the house so I asked my younger daughter to run up and grab it. I kept it in one of those holster things and as she was bouncing back down the steps to the dock, swinging her arms, my NEW Blackberry Storm every-so-gracefully extracted itself from the holster and kerplunked into the lake. Her eyes went as wide as could be and she just stood there, staring into the now empty holster. I scrambled to find some goggles and dove the 8ft or so to the bottom and found the phone. Tried the rice trick, but not so lucky for me. Had to take the conferece call that afternoon from my wife's pink Razor.

[bergermaister]

I've dunked and dropped other cheaper phones like motorlas and samsungs and drowned them (two phones in one summer) but never my iphone(s). I've got that sucker velcroed down in the cockpit! Comes out of the shorts pocket and gets stuck to velcro mount before the boat hits the water.

We'll see what the iP5 looks like here soon. Maybe mine my iP4 will accidentally fall in too...

[ian ashton]

Ian,

Isn't there a bit more to the story that you would like to share?

he, he, he . . . . I read your fb post.

That was Monday's fiasco. The phone went for a swim this afternoon, lol.

For those that didn't know, I ran my boat out of gas, got a ride to a buddies boat so I could tow mine back, his had a dead battery, so I had to walk from his marina to mine (~1 mile) barefoot. While I was walking my dad and friends on the boat were able to flag someone down to tow the boat to our marina. Whew!

[ian ashton]

And, regarding a droid; the UI for Andriod is garbage, I doubt that I will ever use a non-Apple phone, unless that open source crap is improved. There is no disputing that the iPhone has a superior OS, a bunch of my buddies are Android fanbois and they admit that it can't compare.

[wolfeman131]

Maybe you should just stay at the office this week!

Naw, I'd give up the phone for lake time any day. Good luck w/ the rice.

[ian ashton]

I stopped into the Apple store, and they GAVE me a new one! I got the one that I soaked on the release date, so its nearly a year and a half old, and it was 100% my fault that it broke, and they still hooked me up! A++ service will keep me in an iPhone for a long time to come!

[lsvboombox]

I jumped in the lake with my droid x. Had insurance. Called up said i got caught in the pouring rain and they sent another one...

[kaneboats]

I can't believe you guys are getting new phones. Water is usually the one thing they will not give in on.

[jmvotto]

Insurance will cover all loss or damage regardless.50 dollar deductible. Never buy another phone without it.

[cab13367]

I can't believe you guys are getting new phones. Water is usually the one thing they will not give in on.

No kidding. I bought my wife a new 3GS for her bday the day it came out. Exactly one month later, it went for a swim - in the ocean. Took it to the Apple store and they charged me $200 for a new one. Said it got wet and that was not covered. They said think of it as them charging me $200 to fix it but instead of fixing it, they gave me a new one.

[mmandley]

Well im glad this thread came up because as a matter a fact Monday evening my I-4 took a swim in the lake. This is the second phone this has happened too gawd.

I was in Cali with the Wake 9 boat that belongs to Robert < Ragboy >. Wake Makers just installed a custon ballast system and i hauled it back to Cali, well Robert and his family offered me a day on the boat in the Cali sun and who am i to say no lol. I just so happened to bring my swim trunks and all the extra gear i would need lol.

So anyhow mid day we were having problems with a pump and me being the resisdent ballast guy since Robert never had ballast like he has now was looking around. Roberts boat has 1500lbs in the corver now and im not kidding that swim deck is about 2 to 2.5 feet under water. Well i jumped on the swim deck and knelt down so i could reach the batteries on the boat which are in front of his engine.

When i got back in the boat is when i realized my phone was in my pocket still. Man my heart sank to the bottom of this lake i think. Now im in Cali with no cell, and in my truck i dotn carry CDs i just use my phone on the MP3 jack.

Robert has done this several times so he was prepared we got back to his house and put the phone in a bag with those little packets they use to keep moisture out of beef jerky and things like that. I cant recall what there called lol.

Once i got home yesterday i have the phone basking in the sun on my boats sun deck and still have the packets in the zip lock bag. Hopping it comes back to life.

I normaly put my I Phone in the boat at the prep area because its plugs right into my 700U so its safe.

First summer we had the boat i had my 3GS in my pocket when i went to climb in the boat at the ramp and dunked it in the lake.

I just hope it starts working long enough for the I-5 to release then ill upgrade.

[ian ashton]

I should say, when I went to the Apple store I was honest with the guy, I said:

"I was getting on my boat, dropped the phone in the water, and it sat there for like a minute. It still kind of works, but its sketchy. I want to know what my options are; I don't want to 'upgrade' right now because I plan to get the iPhone 5 on the release date, like I did with this phone"

He came back a few minutes later and said "This is a huge exception, but my manager said we can replace it for you."

I'm curious if they look up and see that I've had at least 6 iPhones between the 2 numbers on my plan and that I always buy when the new one comes out. Or maybe they looked at my iTunes purchase history, LOL!

[kaneboats]

I am sure they look at all of that.

[mmandley]

Woooo Whoo HAHA yea buddy my IPhone 4 is as good as new. Claudia pluged it in last night and it charged and works like it was never in the lake. I talked to Al Cab today and he sounded as normal as Al can be hahah sorry Al had to dig at ya LOL. Took some pictures and the camera works normal and been texting people all afternoon. The super absorbent packets and baking in the sun for 2 afternoons dried her right out. Yea now i can use this one till the 5 comes out LOL.

[jpetty3023]

^^. Man that's incredible that it dried out and is working for ya. Water like what you had it in is sure to kill a phone most of the time. Hope this isn't a sign that ur gonna need your phone much longer cause of an iP5 delay or something

[WaterBullDawg1980]

This thread cracks me up. We all are going through phone problems right now. My wife broke the charger on her first phone, so I had to buy her another one out of contract which did not make me happy. Well she left it in the back drivers side storage locker next to a ballast line that was not connected to a bag. At some point her phone and purse were pretty much filled with lake water from someone hitting the fill switch by accident.

Then I am driving to Birmingham for work and as I was filling up on gas, I dropped my phone on the ground and broke the screen. So she is using an old phone with a cracked screen and I am as well. We are just going to have to deal with it, bc I cannot justify spending nearly 1K for freaking cell phones bc they are out of contract. Plus I just bought her a Samsung Galaxy tab for sitting around the house. And yes, her Otterbox is on the way.

It's funny, I haven't paid for a cell phone besides hers in 6 years bc of work. My new job gives us $150 a month for a cell phone bill but it's up to us to buy one. Forgot how expensive they can be.