What do you do when you've got a hot first date and you drop your BlackBerry into the toilet? Turns out, it may be easier to fix than you'd think.
One Washington Post writer recently suffered a case of slippery fingers and dropped his beloved BlackBerry into the toilet. When he retrieved it (it was clean water, or so he says) it was completely unresponsive. He tried wishing - he hadn't stored his date's number anywhere else - then he tried blow drying it for a half hour. Neither trick worked.
Then, a friend told him to turn it off and leave it overnight in a bowl of uncooked rice, which would naturally suck out the moisture. The trick actually worked. Here's more:
I was able to turn it on long enough to retrieve the one number that might save me from offering the lamest and most embarrassing excuse for standing someone up. After sleeping in a bed of rice, my BlackBerry functioned well Sunday, except for the time function, which froze. It was flimsy on Monday, fading in and out, but sprang back to life Tuesday, after another night in the rice bowl.
The good news is, the girl agreed to a second date. The bad news is, his BlackBerry isn't going to last much longer. Have you ever tried drying out your phone after a spill or trip through the wash? If so, what did you do?
BDL by Ben de Lisi
Claudio Merazzi
Dina Bar-El
hmmm... :]
1great tip!
2this story is so inspiring! =P because i am super clumsy.
i wonder though, if my O2 will be as hardy as a blackberry...
3Brilliant!
4That's so funny! I love that it worked and that he got a second date out of it.
5why would you be using your crackberry in the toilet anyway? My sis left her phone in her jeans and washed them. It still works! She let it dry out for a couple days.
6I once dropped mine in the sink, and at home my Mom has a dehumidifier in the basement- I put it on top of that over night and it sucked out all the moisture too!
But rice sounds so much cooler!
7People who talk on their cell phones in the public toilets is one of my biggest pet peeves.
But the rice idea is brilliant. I'll have to remember that if I ever do something so clumsy with an electronic device (not that i use them on the toilet)
8I did it once. With my beloved red phone. That thing fell of 3 story buildings, and into water more then a few times. It was an impressive little phone.
When it would fall into water, I would take the battery out and leave it in a glass overnight so it was kind of suspended. The water would drip out into a little pool in the glass, and the phone would be dry.
But this rice idea is way better. I almost want to drop my phone in some water to test it out.
Almost.
9The same thing just happened to me a couple weeks ago! I snatched it out of the toilet super quick (it was like a reflex) and then let it dry over night. Everything worked the next day except the camera, which began working again a week later.
10My friend dropped her phone in the toilet too. We quickly turned it off and took it apart and set it out to air dry. It still works!
11its not thats their using the phone on the toilet, its cause its in their back pocket and when they pull their pants down or up it falls out into the toilet.(usless knowledge, i know)
12( :
hey that's a good idea! but i don't drop my phone to water! especially to toilet water
13I dropped my phone in the toilet once (long story, but I stuck it in the strap of my top so that I wouldn't forget it and I leaned over by the toilet to throw something away - the water was clean and it was at my house). It had water marks inside and when I tried to turn it on it would flash on and then go black. That night I took the battery out and dried it off (with a towel) and dried the rest of the phone off and layed it out on my dresser. The next morning I put the battery back in and turned it on and it worked fine. That was 8 months ago and I haven't had a problem with it since.
14that's pretty cool. =)
15I dropped my old Motorola v60 in the toilet once. I immediately took the battery out, since I've heard turning it on only fries it even more, and let it air dry for about two nights. It was up and running perfectly fine afterwards and I never had a problem with it.
Of course, that was back before camera phones and memory cards and whatnot!
16I dropped my phone once in the bathtub while taking a bubble bath. I was able to open it all up and take it apart and dry off the phone and it worked perfectly like nothing happened. I then had another phone that got a little rain on it and it got stuck on headphone mode even though there was nothing in there! Both were nokias.
17Eww! I am glad it all worked out in the end.
18Dropped mine in a pedi chair......wish I had tried this!
19interesting, i dropped my phone in the bath once...it dried off fine.
20OMG This literally JUUUUUUST happened to me this weekend!!! Too bad I didn't know about this before I bought a new phone yesterday!!
21I had my Razr phone in my purse and someone spilled an entire glass of water into my purse and I immediately took out the battery and put the battery and phone into the rice but my phone never worked again and I had to get a new one, maybe the rice trick only works for certain phones? My bf dropped his phone in the toilet once too and did everything to dry it out, he never worked again so he got a new phone, 3 months later he turned the phone on one day just to see if it would work and guess what? It works now lol. Too bad he didn't have 3 months to wait.
22my samsung went into the washing machine for a full 10 minutes. tried the hairdryer, but couldnt save its life. I took it to the cellphone repair shop and it cost me a good 80 dollars to get it up and running.
23I have a GREAT tip!
I drop my phone in water a lot (don't ask-it's not all toilets), and I use this technique to get it back running:
Take the phone apart as much as you can (remove battery, face, keyboard, whatever pops out easily), and place them on a paper towel. Then place the paper towel with all the parts on it in the vent of your hood to the stove (the thing above it with a fan). The fan in the hood sucks air into it, and it is like a great reverse dryer!
This had worked at least 5 times for me on the same phone!
24i wonder how this works.
the stove fan sounds like a good idea too.
25Well I never thought of that.
26Thats crazy, but hey if it works.
27man, i wish this article came out earlier, I could have helped save my friend's phone from dying =( Good advice!
28I have trouble with water and electronics. I have sent a laptop and a cell phone to an early watery grave in the past 2 years!
The laptop died immediately after I spilled a glass of water directly onto the keyboard, but the cell phone started to function at a minimal capacity after I removed the battery and let it dry out over night. The keyboard stopped working though, so I could only accept incoming calls, and could do very little more.
Moral of the story: Keep your stuff away from water!
29my boss had the same thing happen to him years ago when the blackberry first came out. he used the rice trick (i have no idea how he knew do use rice!) but it did the job and he had the phone until about 5 months ago when he upgraded.
30Any electronic can be saved from water... its lack of patience that kills them! Its like what the stove vent person says, if you disconnect all of the electric then you've prevented the problem which is short circuit. Now you have to have enough patience to let it dry! The rice thing is a fast dryer but probably not going to dry it 100% after only 1 night. You have to let things dry out thoroughly no matter how you do it. Appliances can be rescued from floods by unplugging and letting them dry for like 2weeks. Its all about time.
31My sis had her ipod in her jeans and washed them and the ipod still works fine!
32I dropped my phone in the toilet and it actually got flushed down.
33Great tip! that is definitely good to know.
34so cool, i think everyone in my brothers family has gotten their phone soaked somehow. now it can be "ishi" to the rescue
35HUH??
36I never would have thought of that. Good idea
37what a story!
38i'm always shocked to hear how ppl don't understand how you can drop stuff like this in the toilet.
i used to keep my cell phone and other electronics in my back pocket b/c they wouldn't fit in front. whaddya know, as soon as i drop my pants, those things are headed south, i've luckily been standing IN FRONT of the toilet when that happened, and remembered to remove them afterwards. guess this guy wasn't so lucky.....
great tip, btw.
39Once not too long ago, my beautiful Chocolate phone slipped out of my pocket and into the running shower. After the screen turned white, I was able to blow dry it back to health. A few days later, 3 numbers would come up when i pressed one, and the camera stopped working ( whenever i hit the camera button it took me to music), but other than that it worked suprisingly well.
40WOW!!! THIS IS CRAZY!!! what does the rice do exactly>?
41I dropped my phone in the toilet in Disney Land and because they have automatic flushers on their toilet it was long gone.
...it was the saddest day EVER.
42I dropped my phone into the sink - it was fully submerged and after a small panic I:
1: Took it out, did NOT turn it on, and pulled it apart.
2: Dried it with some paper towels and a hair dryer.
3: Left it in the drying cupboard overnight (on top of hot water cylinder).
The next day it was a little funny, and after a few nights in the drying cupboard it worked good as new. *yay*
43Its a really cool idea.
In some restaurants and homes in New Orleans (and im sure other place), we put rice in our salt shakers to keep it from clumping with all of the humidity in the air.
44once i dropped my cellphone in the sea (like the beachside). argh. at least the man dropped it in clean, fresh water; salt water will kill your cell instantly!
45I took the battery out and left it open for 2 days to dry out. I'd be scared it wouldn't work with today's phones though, LOL!
46ooo i really want to try it out now!
47Though I've never dropped my cell anywhere, its nice to know that rice helps. Being Asian, I have plenty of it too! ._.
48That's going to save me one day.
49One time i put both my ipod and my phone in the washer (they were wrapped in my sheets and i didn't see them.) I left them in the sun to dry. My phone survived just fine. The ipod played but the screen wouldn't show up. I took it to the apple store and told them I had no idea why the screen stopped working and they gave me a new one because it was still under warrantee. Then about 30 minutes ago i dropped my ipod in the spa. My friend remembered me sharing this story with her last week and told me to put it in rice. Fingers crossed it will be ok soon!
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