A Little Rice With That iPhone?

Posted by | 03/09/2009 | 12 Comments

image I wish I would have known this trick a while back when I went through two phones in the matter of just as many months   Ben over on UMPC Portal decided it might be a good time to try and give his iPhone a bath.  Not really, but the results were amazing.  Throw the iPhone in a bowl of rice and it works like new again!!  Head over and read the story — might help you in the future if you find yourself in a similar situation.

I had an old Palm Treo make it through the wash (and dryer) and came out living!  Any GBM readers have a success story of a good soaking of an electronic device that lived to see another day?

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Category: Mobile

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As a News and Features Writer for GBM, Matt lives and breathes gadgets and mobile computing. In addition, he contributes to daily news posts, InkShow video reviews, and podcasts.Send email to Matt
  • http://www.notebooks.com Xavier

    I dropped my Treo 600 in the toilet and I trashed it. My bluetooth headset made it through a dunk in the sink and an old Nokia survived a drop into a puddle. I’ve never tried the rice trick myself. I generally just disassemble wet gadgets as much as possible and let them air dry.
    Will try the rice pack next time (hopefully it won’t be soon).

  • Rob Bushway

    my last iPhone got a dunk in the toilet, too, and got wet through a leaky hospital window – never tried the rice trick. Like Xavier, I don’t look forward to giving it a try…

  • http://thirdworldpc.blogspot.com Dodot

    I had a Nokia 6210 fall into a bowl of hot noodle soup – steam was even coming off the poor phone when I fished it out. At first it refused to turn on, but after a week my friend took it apart and cleaned it up and – voila! – got it to work again.

  • jaszzz

    During a phone conversation my brother dropped his iPhone 3G into the toilet and upon retrieval, to his surprise the other person was still on the line.

    This was about 2 months ago and the phone has not exhibited problems.

  • Tony

    I have used the rice trick many times. My wife has washed both her phone and her iPod. Both times we used the rice and she uses both of them today. It really works.

  • http://sumocat.blogspot.com Sumocat

    Tried it, but I don’t know how you keep the rice from sticking to the phone. ;P

  • DaveTN

    ever wonder why there are grains of rice in salt shakers?

    I’ve dunked only one phone (knocks on wood) and it was a looonnng time ago. We have a large evaporative dryer at work (I work in a hospital) and I put the phone in it and after a day it worked again.
    I have had several pagers pop off my scrub pants into the toilet….they go to biomed for repair. :-)

    David

  • http://www.howtobemobile.com tim

    As I’m on iPhone number 3 and after traveling through a downpour to get to work yesterday, and then reading Ben’s story, I felt compelled to whip up a quickie video on how to prevent the need for a bowl of rice ;)

    I suspect this problem is WAY more common than we realize. The guy at the shop where I had my iPhone mobo dried out the first time said it happens quite often.

    Tim
    http://www.howtobemobile.com

  • Carol A

    My ancient Nokia phone has been dropped on the ground and fallen apart (about 3 times), dropped in a dog’s water bowl, hosed down when watering the garden and generally abused. Trouble is the damn thing won’t break and I’d love to buy a new one! Guess I’ll have to see if it survives a hammer.

  • http://andrewferguson.net Andrew Ferguson

    I once put my Bluetooth headset through the wash and the dryer. I still use it today and it works just fine…although I check my pockets a bit better now before washing my shorts and pants.

  • Steven

    My cousin, a wildlife biologist, lost his phone. He thought he had thrown it out with some trash when he was cleaning out a house. About 3 months and many rains later, while going through a gate with his daughter, she stooped down and picked up his phone beside the gate post. He charged it up, and the thing is still running nearly a year later. It is a Moto 9.

  • M@rc

    There was a flood once in my basement because a water pipe broke. There was water at about half my computer case, hopefully the hard drive were not touched and after a day or two air drying everything with 2 fans it booted up like if nothing ever happen.

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