Q: I really need your help, Unplggd! I dropped my cell phone into the pool while bending down to check the water today. My Blackberry is soaking wet and it's not turning on. Is there any way my life line can work again? I don't want to buy (yet another) new phone!
Sent by Leslie
Editor - We'd direct you over to last year's Home Hacks, where we shared this tip: How To Dry Out (and Hopefully Save) Wet Electronics . It only requires common household items and a bit of patience. The secret of resuscitating drown electronics is to be thorough and patient…being lax in either case can result in a failed attempt to revive your device.
If that doesn't work, or isn't fast enough for you, you could give this retail solution a dry…a try. The Dry-All Emergency Kit supposedly works in just 6 hours time, instead of the 1-3 days using the technique mentioned above, utilizing humidity-sucking microbeads that can be reused up to 5 times.
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patience to let the thing dry all the way out is key.
Seconding aneelee. Leave the thing in rice for a couple of days rather than just overnight; it saved my phone.
I went swimming with my 2-month-old Android... I never got it restored, but it was a full system with a touch screen and such. I've since been told that if your phone went for a swim in chlorine or salt water, get into distilled water right away for about 24 hours (remove the battery, but soak it too), gently stirring it every so often to get the plain water into the places where the chlorine or salt originally went.
Unfortunately, mine never recovered, so I had to purchase a different phone... but I never did the distilled water bit.
I don't know if any of this will work, so don't hold me to it :-). I never had a chance to try it myself.
Take it completely apart and put it in a bag of rice IMMEDIATELY. For like 48 hours.
My Droid 2 never recovered from the rice trick, but a sealed Tupperware full of silica packets worked for my boyfriend.
Whatever you do, don't turn it on. Remove the battery immediately and let it dry out. There's a good chance it's not wrecked, but if you turn it on when it's still wet, you take a huge risk of ruining your phone.
Focus on drying. Warm room with rice or silica packets.