How Liquipel 2.0 can make your smartphone Water-Resistant to even Toilet Water

After having done that article on the US$400 Kyocera Brigadier smartphone as stated in my blog article entitled “US$400 Kyocera Brigadier – Verizon's Waterproof, Drop-Proof Unscratchable Unbreakable Sapphire Screen for the Great Outdoors”, I realized there were yet two more reason for me to dislike smartphones.

My original reasons for disliking smartphones were their continued poor Battery Life despite the advances in technology and the fact that they make you Trackable via GPS as I’d pointed out in my blog article entitled “The Reason why I don't like Smartphones - Location Privacy and How to disable Location Services on Android and iOS”.

Now I got two more: They’ve got breakable screens and they’re not waterproof.

Granted a Sapphire, Gorilla Glass 3 or even Diamond Screens would solve that problem. Diamond screens are very possible, albeit the screen would really be made of Glass with a thin 1mm Diamond Screen. But the Waterproof problem is a big one for me and is guaranteed to keep me in the Luddite camp for quite awhile longer.

Truth be told, there are some smartphones that are waterproof as listed in the article “Six best water-resistant phones today”, published August 6, 2013 1:55 PM PDT by Jessica Dolcourt  and Lynn La, CNET News and “10 WATERPROOF ANDROID PHONES FOR THOSE RAINY DAYS”, published August 6, 2014 By Andy Boxall, DigitalTrends:

1.      Sony Xperia Z2

2.      Samsung Galaxy S5

3.      Sony Xperia Z1S

4.      Kyocera Hydro Elite (Verizon Wireless)

5.      Sony Xperia Z Ultra (Google Play Edition)

6.      Samsung Galaxy S4 Active

If your smartphone or other gadget falls into water, do not turn it on! Instead, wrap it in towel, drying of as much water as possible. Then get a plastic container, fill it with Silica Gel packs, those packets that often see come inside of the boxes with your gadget; you may just search for “silica gel packs” on Ebay and order them next time. Then let the Smartphone sit for a week inside of the closed plastic container to allow the phone to dry out naturally before attempting to turn it on.

But is there a way to make a smartphone or any phone for that matter Waterproof? And what do you do if your phone gets wet?

Waterproof and Water-Resistant – How the IP Rating Scale determines who’s dunkable

Please note that strictly speaking, no electronics device is totally waterproof, but by design and the materials used it might be water-resistant. This means it can resist water damage up to a certain depth or pressure of water for a specified period of time and is based on its IP or Ingress Protection Rating.

The IP Rating Scale is a pair of numbers which give an indication of the degree to which an electronics gadget can resist exposure to Dust and Water. It’s a scale that consists of two numbers, the first digit indicating resistance to solid particle protection and the second digit indicating resistance to liquid.

With waterproof smartphones being the latest trend accidentally discovered based on my blog traffic, it stands to reason that there must be a way to make a smartphone waterproof via some kind of coating.

Liquipel 2.0 - Hydrophobic Nano-Particulate Coating that makes smartphones Urinal Resistant

Turns out there is a company called Liquipel that made a splash at CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2012 and MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2012 in Barcelona, Spain as reported in “Have no fear later this year if you phone drops into the drink”, published February 26, 2012 10:34 AM PST by Stephen Shankland, CNET News with their hydrophobic nano-particulate coating, a fancy way of saying that they can make any smartphone water-resistant, if not water proof, as in the case of the Apple iPhone 4.

The company returned in CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2013 with a 100x improved nano-particulate hydrophobic coating dubbed the Liquipel 2.0 as stated in “Liquipel 2.0 phone waterproofer splashes down”, published January 8, 2013 4:22 PM PST by Reuben Lee, CNET News.

They’ve also designed another product, basically shock absorber plastic phone case that came out in January 2014 at the CES 2014 as explained in the article “The shower-proof smartphone! Firm creates 'skins' that make latest handsets nigh-on indestructible”, published 14:06 GMT, 10 January 2014 By Sean Poulter, Daily Mail UK.

Costing US$59.99, the coating makes your gadgets water-resistant up to IPx7 level, which translates to 1 m (3.3”) underwater for 30 minutes on the IP Rating Scale.

The process is basically done in a Vacuum chamber where their patented pending Liquipel 2.0 is adsorbed onto the surface of the electronics and into every nook and cranny over a period of 30 minutes and then cured using UV Radiation as shown below.

After the process, your smartphone becomes water-resistant, albeit not quite waterproof, as that would imply that you could take it diving. With IPx7 level, it can at least be taken to the beach and take a coffee or juice spill and yes, fall out of your top pocket into the urinal.

Not sure how well the Shock Absorber skins work, though they’re a more tangible product that Amazon’s Air bags for the smartphone as described in my blog article entitled “Amazon patents Fall Prevention Technology for smartphones and Tablets - The Research begins with Amazon’s patent that’s Hyde Park on Hudson (2013)”.

But if it can make smartphones resist a fall into the swirling mass of Water that is the Public Urinal or Toilet, then this trend will accelerate the sales of smartphones as well as more smartphone designers making their smartphones and Tablets Water Resistant.

Check out the Liquipel website for further details!