Samsung Galaxy Note II – Water Damage

On Saturday afternoon I went for a walk around Singapore’s MacRitchie Reservoir to do some exercise and get a bit closer to nature. The whole circuit is about 13 km if you include the HSBC TreeTop Walk. While there are some small huts dotted around the track, there is one part, near the golf course, that has no cover and no huts. This is, of course, where the heavens opened and I ended up jogging in a torrential downpour, giving myself and my Samsung Galaxy Note II a shower.

I quite enjoyed the whole experience, with the rain drowning out any sound of civilization and I could feel my primal instincts activating to dodge the torrents of water pouring down the track which had transformed into a stream in some places.

Unfortunately, my Samsung Galaxy Note II did not like the experience at all. When I finally arrived at some cover I took my phone out of my pocket and hit the button on the side to turn it off. The phone had already turned itself off though, so I unwittingly turned it on. I didn’t want to open the phone and take the battery out, as everything was just too wet. I just had to wait for the phone to turn on so I could shut it down. Alas the red led started to act strangely with different intensities before the phone died.

After wringing my clothes in the change room at the main entrance area I headed home on public transport. I don’t think any taxi driver would have taken me!

When I arrived home I put my Samsung Galaxy Note II in my dry cabinet with the cover off and battery out. The following day the phone did turn on, but the touch screen became non-responsive and the screen flickered like there was some interference. It didn’t look good, so I decided to take everything to pieces again and put it back in the dry cabinet.

Upon searching online for water damage information for a Samsung Galaxy Note II I found out where the water damage indicator is. Apparently the small white square at the top left of the battery compartment, near the battery contacts, is supposed to have a number of small red crosses on it. When water touches the area the crosses bleed into the white area turning the white square into a red one. Well mine was ALL white. I couldn’t believe that had happened from the phone being in my pocket while exposed to rain from a tropical storm.

I took the phone into Samsung today and have to wait for the quote to fix it. Since it’s water damage the warranty does not cover the problem. I hope it’s not going to be too expensive, but the phone will not even turn on now, so it’s not looking good.

If it is expensive to fix it a friend suggested I should get the new Sony Experia Z instead because it’s water proof and would withstand this type of punishment!

Lesson learned – do not take expensive electronic toys into the rain forest without a plastic, rain-proof bag or water damage will ensue!

4 thoughts on “Samsung Galaxy Note II – Water Damage

  1. Jason

    This phone is awful. Mine was exposed to water for about 3 seconds and died. In contrast, I dropped my iphone into a pool once, it sank to the bottom, and I had to dive in and fish it out (once I realized what had happened). The iphone kept working fine.

    Reply
    1. louco73 Post author

      Hi Jason,

      I think it comes down to sealed phones like the iPhone and HTC One offer more protection than unsealed phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note II. I see that Samsung now have an Active model of the Galaxy S4 and Sony have the water resistant Experia Z, so hopefully the manufacturers do start to realise that their phones need to be more water resistant!

      Reply
    1. louco73 Post author

      I ended up paying for the repair. It was over SGD$600, but they would honour the remaining warranty. They replaced nearly everything in the phone, so it was like getting a new phone. If they were just replacing one component I would have purchased a new one.

      Reply

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