Expert: Roberto Serrano - 5/17/2008

Question
About two weeks ago, I placed my Sprint phone in a bag which also contained a package of food. The package of food spilled (meat juice), and my phone, and its battery, got wet.

I tried turning on the phone immediately and found that it would not go to the main menu screen. So I assumed that the meat juices had disabled it.

So I called and received a replacement phone yesterday. To my embarrassment, I tried my old phone one last time and it actually worked. It did have a low battery so it needed to be recharged.

I do not believe my old phone had a low battery at the time it first got wet.

Is it possible that it could have been temporarily disabled by getting wet? Or is it more likely that its battery simply needed recharging? The only problem I have with the latter is that the usual "low battery warning" did not appear; the phone simply would not go to the main menu.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Answer
Hello John,

Your phone might be temporarily working but it will only be temporarily right now the inside of your phone board is rusting you will have problems eventually either with the buttons not working with the charger the battery or the screen in due time. It is normal for it to work a bit after the phone has dried up but please be aware that the phone is currently working right now on a temporarily basis. Maybe it will not fully be disabled for a a couple of days maybe weeks or a month but it will stop working and it will be due to the fact that your phone got wet. My suggestion is to go ahead with the replacement because you will have problems in the future this way you get rid of that headache now. Also please make sure you are getting the phone swapped through your insurance not your warranty because they will inspect the phone and find out it has water damage and charge you the full retail amount of the phone to your account. I hope that I have been of help if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for your question.