“Magical Rice” or “My Zombie Phone”
I was working from home on Wednesday and as is my practice I did my laundry. Around noon I was looking for my wallet.
“Where’s my wallet?”
“Wait, I think it’s in my pants’ pocket.”
“Wait, where’s my phone?”
“…”
I ran downstairs and the washer was already done. I opened the door and sure enough my wallet was in my pants’ pocket. And sure enough my phone was in the other pocket. I took it out – all nice and squeaky clean – and powered off. I tried turning it on to no avail. It was dead.
I went back upstairs and lamented my phone’s fate on Twitter and Facebook. One of my friends suggested putting my phone in a bag of uncooked rice. The rice will pull out the moisture. I had nothing to lose so I filled up a ziplock bag of rice and stuck my phone in it.
Later that day I took out my phone. It seemed that some moisture had vacated the screen. I plugged it in and it wouldn’t power on. Perhaps a little longer would help. I stuck it back in the bag of rice. Last night I took it out again. Seemed like more moisture left and it looked alright. I plugged it in and … still no good. Alas, my phone was gone.
Then this morning, I decided to try it one more time. I plugged it in not expected anything and … the screen went on! I took out the battery and plugged it in. It started charging the battery. Soon my battery was charged and I could turn it on. I was able to activate it with Verizon. My phone was back alive!
Who would have thought that a bag of rice could actually save my phone. This wasn’t one of those, oh no! I dropped it in a puddle. This thing was in the washing machine for a good 30 minutes, detergent and all. It was soaked and wet through and through but now it works. There is still some moisture on the internal screen, not enough to distort the image but noticeable.
I’m glad to have my phone back but I guess that means I don’t have an excuse to get a new fancy android phone next month.