Apparently Apple are avoiding warranty repair/replacement handsets by claiming water damage even though these people claim they haven't been near water with their phone!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10280237.stm

I once put my phone (not an iphone) through the washing machine.

I took it to the shop and told them it was "broken". They sent it away – and it came back unfixed "water damaged". There is a special sticker which changes color when it gets wet.

I suspect these people have done the same thing, but don't want to own up/ pay for a new phone

I don't think thats correct as I had a phone (motorola Razr) that I never got wet and that indicator had turned pink. it was still fully functional to the day I got an upgrade!

Its the fact that they are not even opening the devices to rule out a false positive

The iphone has colour changing paper in the charging and headphone socket so they can tell if it has come into contact with water.

edit:
Whoops!! just watched the vid and it tells you that on there…..doh!!

This was reported in the tech news a while ago… someone did some testing and found that by just walking from warm to hot environments and vice versa could trigger the moisture sensors in iPhones.

Having it sat on the other side of the bathroom while you're showering can stuff up the sticker apparently, even if it's not the cause of the problem. Colleague's iphone started playing up and when it got returned to the shop with a water damage voided explanation, bearing in mind this guy is anal about protecting his phone, the assistant offered that as an explanation.

No idea why he'd need to take it into the bathroom. Probably something to do with an Angry Birds addiction…

I suspect these people have done the same thing, but don't want to own up/ pay for a new phone

Might be best to watch the report before you make any judgements.

How sensitive are these stickers? If you leave it in a cold (freezing) car then bring it inside, it'll get pretty damp with consdensation. Would that be enough to turn your sticker? What about it being near your mouth while you're talking on it on a cold day?

Edit: started typing reply before grunka lunka's. someone talked at me.

I suspect these people have done the same thing, but don't want to own up/ pay for a new phone

Might be best to watch the report before you make any judgements.

and where would be the fun in that? 🙂

I've got a fully waterproof case which I stick my phone in when I'm riding… bought it from a scuba diving shop, so it should be able to cope with a bit of rain.

that said, i do put it on the side when i'm having a shower, so it is probably stuffed anyway.

Dave

and where would be the fun in that?

Good point.

I knocked my iPhone off a counter and into a bucket of water at work (by accident). It took me about 30 seconds to see where it was and get it out the bucket.

At this point it wasn't working at all. I then left it on a radiator on low heat for a couple of days and it now works better than it ever has.

And it's cleaner too 8)

Yep a friend had hers in her pocket when snowboarding. It got fairly damp, but certainly wasn't submerged underwater or anything. Apple wouldn't touch it when it started playing up.

As said, iPhones have a few moisture indicators inside (as do a lot of phones and other devices these days), and like everyone else, reserve the right to reject warranty claims when it's been water damaged.

However, they're the only mobile vendor I know of that will do a out-of-warranty swapout of your (potentially £500+) damaged device for under £150, regardless of how badly you managed to damage it.

Mine unfortunately went down the lav, pre piss thankfully. Went straight in fished it out and switched off immediately. Still swear to this day it was the cover I use for it that saved it, a robust builder type one that plugs all the open ports.

I once put my phone (not an iphone) through the washing machine.

I took it to the shop and told them it was "broken". They sent it away – and it came back unfixed "water damaged". There is a special sticker which changes color when it gets wet.

I suspect these people have done the same thing, but don't want to own up/ pay for a new phone

I worked out in the gym with mine on an arm strap, and then stretched and chucked it in my pocket whilst walking up the 15 or so stairs back to the changing room.

It then decided to die, and Apple concluded that it was water damaged. So, in reference to the crass comment above, it has not been submerged, it has not been sprayed, it has purely been subject to low humidity for a short time (circa 20 seconds).

Personally I didn't expect a phone to be that pathetic, but hey, it seems that Apple do.

yea, I've destroyed mp3 players at the gym, especialy the ones that hang on a chord round your neck, they just get killed by condensation.

Ipods mobo fryed itself but that was only £30 for a new one and easy enough to replace.

When I was looking at an iPhone a while back, the condescending muppet in the O2 shop told me that I didn't need to worry about the fact it only had a 1-year warranty on a 2-year contract as Apple are the "Rolls Royce" of gadget manufacturers. When I enquired why the "Ford" of gadget manufacturers (in this case, S-E) covered my phone for the duration of my contract, and by his assertion it should be less reliable, he didn't really have an answer. My 3 year old S-E is still working fine, can do the internet, gmail etc, and is somewhat smaller too. Apple suck melons.

I worked out in the gym with mine on an arm strap… it has purely been subject to low humidity for a short time (circa 20 seconds)

That's a pretty short workout!

. It took me about 30 seconds to see where it was and get it out the bucket.

That's a big ol' bucket you got there.

mine got soaked and broked in a rainstorm whilst out on the bike
took it into the Apple Store and they replaced it for free
think I got an assistant who either fancied me or didn't know how to check the moisture tabs
I presume the latter

I dropped mine down the loo. The fact that I'm supposed to act like an adult is a constant source of surprise to me

They're saying it needs to be the internal tabs too, youd hope it'd be IP63 at least, phones get used in all sorts of locations and since they expect them to be universal gadgets helpful all the time you'd want them to be able to deal with a bit of a sprinkly or condensation.

My old 6630 has been drowned completely twice now, once in the sea, thrown down stairs, regularly goes in a back pocket of a biking jersey and ends up condensation covered inside. While the iphone is clearly a bit more technical, it's not lacking somewhat if it can't do what a phone of 7 years earlier can do with it's eyes shut. When I design electronics and put them in an enclosure I think about every possible working environment and design for it, it seems Apple (and probably all the other manufacturers to be fair) prefer looks.

yup, it does need to be the internal tabs too, but the impression i got from the applestore was that they'd checked the outer ones, they'd failed so they wouldn't even need to open it up.

I wasn't aware of the inner tabs at the time else I would have most certainly requested to see them. So, £140 for a new one had to be found.

And they make damn sure they keep the old one…

When I design electronics and put them in an enclosure I think about every possible working environment and design for it

*Wonders what a coffeeking designed phone would look like..*

*Wonders what a coffeeking designed phone would look like..*

Not far off 😉

That's a big ol' bucket you got there.

Slow reactions in my old age… 😆

and I didn't actually realise it was in the bucket until I couldn't find it anywhere else.

I've been known to make my own dogs-dinner occasionally…

Get yourself a Nokia

I had an iPod touch get Water damaged by bringing it into the kitchen after it had been in the car at -18degC. Apple refused to repair it. It was 57 days old, and had been used once. B*st*rds.

There are clear warnings with the iPhone about temperature range and the risk of condensation. As far as a seven year old phone being less susceptible to water, well yes, of course. It didn't have a fancy touchscreen, large amounts of flash memory storage, wifi, GPS…
Unfortunately, when upgrade time comes around, there's a tendency for people to 'accidentally' drop their phone in the loo/sink/bucket/whatever, so manufacturers like Apple are forced to do something about fraud. Sad, but there you go.

The point is that apple are just blatantly using it as an excuse not to repair their stupidly fragile phones.
It was on watchdog last week, they sent a couple of phones in for repair and not one had actually been opened up. They just claimed water damage every time.

so manufacturers like Apple are forced to do something about fraud.

By committing it themselves?

However, they're the only mobile vendor I know of that will do a out-of-warranty swapout of your (potentially £500+) damaged device for under £150, regardless of how badly you managed to damage it.

that's awful nice of them.

How much does it cost apple to manufacture an iPhone? Probably a couple of dollars going by the wages at foxconn?

So basically the iPhone is not fit for its intended use?

My Nokia candybar phone has been through the washing machine and still works 2 years later.

It's not just iphones. My Blackberry decided to drop the ball and somehow one of the water damage indicators had turned pink. Me thinks the indicators are way over sensitive and that the phones are shit.

Tellingly, I have a mate who designs the things and he refuses point blank to spend his own money on a smart phone as he thinks the engineering is shit.

I've got a waterproof phone. It is also drop-resistant.

It isn't made by Apple. It works really well.

Sorry – just wanted to share that with people who would buy something so delicate it needs cosseting and then think they can use it as a phone!

NO!!

I dropped mine down a well on the farm, it rang for thirty seconds until it died.

I now have a waterproof, indestructible phone, but am ordering an iPhone4.

I watched a programme about these a little while ago. I think the point was that yes the iphone has a couple of external water indicators. When the surveyed a group of people whose phones had never been near water about 50% had the red tabs on their phones (Its easy to look and check)so they were out of warranty.

The thing was that this is only evidence of water on the outside. The iphone also has water indicaters on the inside which would be much more decisive proof of water ingress. Anyhow, theyopened up a couple of phones (By qualified people) and found that although the outside tabs were red the inside ones were white. Then they approached Apple to find that in zero incidents do apple bother to open the phone and check the internal indicators. Apple just cant be bothered to open them and hide behind the outside indicators.