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Water water everywhere? Mobile phone water damage Samsung Galaxy S2 S3

Samsung Galaxy S2 water damageJust as I took ownership of my Samsung Galaxy S3 my S2 died on my. Good timing? The battery ran down over the weekend and it would not recharge.

I still needed the phone. I sent it off for repair. The repairers came back and said it had evidence of water damage. I can tell you that that phone has not come into contact with water. However you can see problems if you use the phone in a damp environment. I my case it is likely to have been listening to BBCRadio4 using the Tune In Radio app over the internet whilst having a shower. The phone has not been “in” the shower – just in the shower room.

This is somewhat unacceptable. Phones should not be this vulnerable. For now I don’t think there is anything to be done but designs need ruggedizing for the future. I’m going to see if I can fix it myself. Stay tuned but for the moment keep your phone out of the bathroom.

Trefor Davies

By Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com

13 replies on “Water water everywhere? Mobile phone water damage Samsung Galaxy S2 S3”

It comes down to treating your customers correctly.

Your experience suggests that the sensors are far too sensitive, like the iPhone where in humid climates, apple stores were refusing to replace or repair.

Better sensors are required to tell the difference between immersed in water and in humid conditions.

Apple are good at this, they have several “tell tale” devices in iPhones etc that react to moisture and are used as an excuse when something goes wrong. Obviously designed by someone who lives in an arid climate with aircon everywhere 🙂

I used to be a mod on a mobile phone related forum and we had lots of threads about both network attached and independent repair centres returning phones to customers without doing the repairs with the explanation being that the device was water damaged.

They really should stand up to a little moisture considering that for some users at least the phone will spend most of its life outside, particularly if that customer is a builder for example.

So what happened in the end – did the phone company accept your explanation and fix it or not? Im in same situation and need advice asap as to best course of action!

Nope. Unfortunately they use it as an easy get out clause. We should all make a lot of noise about it on forums. I have the phone back and am going to see if I can fix it myself. It might just be a poor contact preventing the charging.

I’ve had a very similar experience. (S2 that suddenly stopped charging – just this week, I’m off to buy a new phone rather than spending time and money trying to get it fixed)

I had some other problems beforehand:

i) Phone immediately switching itself back on when being switched off (shortly before its death)
ii) Phone claiming that it’s battery was overheating when it was not and refusing to switch on (but worked when attached to charger) (fixed by blowing compressed air into the microusb)

I think some of this might be related to using my phone in the rain though. However, there was no event near the time that the phone died – other than the hot weather!

it’s not good enough is it Tom> these phones should withstand humidity. using it in the rain is not like dropping it in a bucket of water.

SAMSUNG S PLUS – LIQUID DAMAGE! ……PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS IF VODAPHONE REPAIR CENTRE HAVE TOLD YOU YOUR PHONE HAS LIQUID DAMAGE (WHEN YOU KNOW IT HASN’T) AND ASKED FOR £100 TO REPAIR – DO NOT PAY………………..
I ALSO WAS TOLD BY VODAPHONE THAT MY PHONE HAD LIQUID DAMAGE – HAVING THEN MADE 4 SPERATE PHONE CALLS TO VODAPHONE TO EXPLAIN THAT THE PHONE HAD NEVER BEEN NEAR ANY WATER THESE ARE SOME OF THE RESPONSES I RECEIVED FROM A VARIETY OF “CUSTOMER SERVICE” OPERATORS……
– HAVE YOU USED IT IN THE RAIN?
– HAVE YOU USED IT IN A HOT COUNTRY?
– THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO
– WELL (OPERATOR LAUGHING) YOU CAN GET LIQUID DAMAGE IF YOU HAVE THE PHONE IN YOUR POCKET AND IT GETS A BIT HUMID
– IF YOU’VE ALREADY SPOKEN TO US TODAY THEN I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU ABOUT THE PROBLEM!!!!
CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ITS VERY WORSE…..
ANYWAY FOR ALL VODAPHONE CUSTOMERS WITH THE SAME PROBLEM AND BEING ASKED FOR £100 …DO NOT PAY!
i PHONED SAMSUNG WHO SENT ME AN ENVELOPE TO RETURN THE PHONE TO THEM AND WITHIN 5 DAYS THE PHONE HAS BEEN REPAIRED FOR FREE AND RETURNED TO ME IN PERFECT CONDITION……..AND ……….THE RESPONSE SHEET FROM SAMSUNG AS TO THE FAULT STATES “FAULTY CHARGER SOCKET” NO MENTION OF ANY LIQUID DAMAGE

that picture is in exactly the same place as mine supposed liquid damage, mine hasn’t got the white marks on casing thought just a corroded capacitor do you have an enlarged picture to see if it is the same issue?

I’ve had the £100 repair ‘offer’ from Vodafone for liquid damage also, when I know it’s never been wet. I got similar responses as Ann above as to the explanation. I’ve just got the phone back and sent it to Samsung. I’ll post again when I hear from them to let you know the outcome.

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