Comments on: How my BlackBerry survived a swim in the toilet

CNET News' Ina Fried loved her smartphone already, but loves it even more after it survived an unfortunate "water incident." Here's how the incident went down.

[Willie Winkie]

Pouring some anhydrous isoprople alchohol into the device will force out the water. Works like dry-cleaning.

[Sam Papelbon]

i've dropped my gameboy advanced sp in the toilet twice. thankfully not while sitting on it, but by bumping it off the sink. (since i have a ds, the sp is now my version of the bathroom reader). still works like a charm and even the link ports work. plucked it out really quick each time. since it still worked after the first time, i just rinsed it off under the sink after the second time. the only noticeable sign is the sticker on the bottom is all whatever-word-you-use-to-describe-stickers-that-have-gotten-wet.

perhaps the organic materials present in that particular water make it safer for gadgets while the heavy dose of chlorine and other chemicals in pool water make it more dangerous. or maybe it's just because it's a lot longer process to retrieve a phone from the bottom of a pool than from a few inches of toilet tea.

[mycbrad]

With my waterlogged iPhone a couple months ago, I could not remove the battery. Another reason design isn't always most important.

[19gt52]

and just what twit gave you the advice to "leave it alone?"

Stupidity does run rampant these days.

The device must be stripped down, rinsed *thoroughly* in either DI or distilled water (brush if needed), and then dried for several hours at the lowest temp your oven (need I say that I don't mean microwave?) can supply. The device must not rest on the metal oven shelf while heating.
Reassemble and you're good to go.

Please don't pass along the advice of every techno-challenged individual you happen to fall over, just because you think it makes an engaging story.

[DOCtaBOMB]

LOL, what I find best about this is that the same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, except that it was my girlfriends phone, and she was mad at me for scaring her in the bathroom... so she threw the phone at me... it rebounded... then SPLASH!!!

so I quickly nabbed it out of the bowl (it was clean BTW) Ripped off the battery cover and yanked the battery out. Grabbed my little screw driver kit, opened it all up and let it sit for a day. Next day, screwed the thing back together and it worked flawlessly!!!

I still wont let my girl live down the fact that karma kicked her in the ass for throwing something at me :-D

[SlimGem]

I believe that once a BlackBerry has been baptized in this way it is unofficially referred to as a DingleBerry.

[johnqh]

Clean water is normally not a big problem. Just dry it.

Coffee, cola, and soup are more likely to destroy the phone.

[Launchpad_72]

Congrats Ina! I know what it's like to have a cell phone take a swim.
I once had a Katana that survived a trip through a triple-loader washer and dryer. I started panicing when I found my battery cover in a shirt I was folding. Luckily, with the exception of a slightly warped outer screen from the heat, it worked just fine.
You might want to lessen your dependence on it, though. You sound a little too attached...

~IAmTheDonut

[Hernys]

A few years ago, my wife comes running to me (at a party) with her phone in her hand, hands it to me in a hurry and tell me "see if you can make it work!". I put the slightly wet phone to my ear to see if it makes any sound, check it, flip it around and while trying to power it up I as her "why, what happened". "It fell into the toilet!" she answers. Ewwwww...
Couldn't have she told me that before I put it into my ear and fiddled with it???

[bwest33]

I don't think I'd ever be able to use the phone again after a public toilet dunk, even if I managed to get it dried out and visibly clean ...

[EfraimL]

This exact story happened to me, It was Friday afternoon and my Blackberry Bold fell into the toilet, helplessly, I did the same search Ina did on Google - to find that I will need to place the Blackberry in rice for at least a day. Luckily for me it was Friday afternoon and because I observe the Sabbath it wasn't so bad. Right before the Sabbath I checked the Blackberry and the screen was already on as Ina described but the keys typed strange letters, so I decided to leave it in the rice till after sundown on Saturday. After taking it out - Guess what - the blackberry worked properly and I was so excited...

[Hernys]

Now, for a process that works.
Immediately remove the battery.
Remove any accessories, including SD cards and the like.
Shake the device with a circular motion, with the side with most openings (that were open when the device fell, like power plug and audio jack) to the external side. This will remove the amount of water in.
If possible, and you are skilled at it, disassemble the device and clean with distilled water. Let dry on a warm, dry place.
If you cannot disassemble, get some distilled water, and get the device soaked on it. Distilled water will not damage the electronics.
Remove from water, shake the device again to remove the water. When it is relatively dri, soak it again in a new batch of distilled water. This time, add some alcohol (5%) to the water.
Remove from water and shake again to remove excess water. Put the device in a flask with a lid, and cover it with uncooked rice. If you can get a few bags of silica gel (those pouches that come inside some electronics packaging, you can also buy them at places like the UPS store) that's eben better than rice. Close the lid and let it dry.
After the device is completely dry inside out (if in doubt, let it dry some more), put on a new battery (the original one is most likely dead, but you can try it with no added danger) and attempt to power it on.
This should work most of the time, unless the water was salty or really dirty (meaning suspended materials, not germs). It is not water that damages electronics, it is the particles that came with the water, and parasitic currents channeled through those particles (especially when the water is still in there).

[Hernys]

Oh, and remove the SIM card when you remove the battery. Before putting it back in, clean the contacts for the SIM and the battery, both sides, with a cotton swab and some alcohol.

[markatlocatrix]

This is a good rule of thumb for submerging any mobile device; I had an old Motorola phone that got very wet inside a backpack when a water bottle broke. The key thing is leave it dry for as long as possible - removing the battery, case etc. And then leave it dry some more.

Like the Blackberry in the story my old Moto survived for another couple of years, and when it eventually started dying it was the microphone and speaker that was the problem. I put this down to mildew!

[kernkrafty]

In this case, there is no such thing as a lucky escape. Where that phone went is a one-way street and for good reason. Who wants an ear infection and the knowledge that the phone was in that dirty pool? You can wipe it outside, but you cannot get rid of the memory.

I am shocked that anybody would want to keep the phone after this incident. Do you wash your hand there when the tap is broken? It is a very poor assessment of personal hygiene.

[notovny]

Because of the strength of the solvents used to clean toilet bowls, the water in a toilet is often cleaner with regards to harmful bacteria than an uncovered toothbrush stored in the same bathroom (which gets exposed to aerosolized droplets of toilet water during a flush, but isn''t typically cleaned with lysol weekly) or the basins of dirinking fountains.

While I wouldn't recommend gargling daily with the water from the toilet bowl, if he device is clean, and still works afterward, yes, I'd continue to use it. The fact that it fell into the toilet bowl is an argument for replacement, but not by itself, a neccessary and sufficent reason for replacement of a clean and working expensive electronic item I own at my own expense.

If someone else is footing the bill, however....

[cationic]

Sorry, but this article is almost useless. The writer could have told us more about how she actually dried her device, but she did not. She just repeated generic information that is readily available, without enough detail to be useful. Her account of her tribulations and outcome is so similar to tons of other accounts of people in the same situation.

[skyboxer1968]

My wife's nokia 5310 (i think) took a brief dunk in a full glass of diet pepsi. She fished it out quickly an immediately threw it to me. Having read horror stories like this before, I immediately removed the battery, SD card, and SIM. I shook out all the water I could and placed it in a bag of uncooked rice for 24 hours. The next day it powered up fine but the screen was shaded in diagonal stripes. These went away by the next day. She still uses the phone and has no problems with it. I'm glad she drinks diet pepsi, which isn't near as sticky as the real stuff. I'm also glad she chose a nokia phone as they are known for solid build quality. Only time will tell if there is any residue that will eventually eat its way through something important.

[Rod Roddy]

Some would argue that, that's where a BlackBerry belongs...

[tipoo_]

Something similar happened with my TI-83...Dont ask.

[ty47]

My son-in-law dropped his BB World in the lake & it ended up dead. Being an "electronics expert" who has had a lot experience in reviving wet electronics, I carefullly opened it up, dried any water that could be seen and then carefully blew it out using compressed air and finally a warm hair dryer. I then preheated the oven to 200 degrees, turned it off and placed the disassembled BB inside for a final drying. He and I then went downstairs to celebrate with a couple of bourbons and a little TV.

About an 90 minutes later we came up to check on the BB and were met with an awful smell. Seems the wife decided to preheat the oven to 450 degrees in preparation for supper. The smell as we feared was from the melted BB. Not a good evening.....