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Waterproof? Water Resistant!

In a recent post I introduced you to an upcoming technology that helps prevent your electronic devices from
getting damaged from accidental liquid damage. The process involves coating the internals as
well as externals of the device with a molecular level protective layer, using nanotechnology,
which means that the water does not damage the phone, camera, tablet or other such device. It
floats off just like mercury off of a surface.

Obviously, there are a few companies out there offering a similar technology but promoting it
as waterproof. One such company is Liquipel (http://www.liquipel.com/), based in Southern
California. You send your device to them, and they treat it and send it back to you. After the
process, they claim, your phone/device is protected by a ‘waterproof’ shield. So much so that
this even protects the wet/liquid damage detector from getting wet in your device, which means
that even if the device was damaged, there would be no indication of water/liquid damage to the
device, and the warranty would still hold.

image
Snapshot from the Liquipel website

There are a few demonstration videos on their website, and clicking on this link easily walks you through them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jedv15ov3sw&list=UUfcQmhBVk8c_89icfy3O-aw&index=4&feature=plcp

And here is another video, where a live demonstration is shown. Their representative calls it waterproof as well as gives a live demo. Also claiming that the warranty cannot be void:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ZdgGpAJWU&feature=youtu.be

Being excited about the whole technology, I delved further into it. One of my main curiosities revolved around the ‘waterproof’ claim. Not many devices are brave enough to use that statement. Even watches that are guaranteed to work at a depth of 100m, and can be used for deep sea diving do not use that statement. Interestingly enough, I was not the only one who was concerned. Steve from Fox had already put the claim to test, and produced this video. It all goes seemingly well right till the phone fails.
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/fox_4_features/deal_or_dud/deal-or-dud%3A-liquipel-022912

And this is where as a consumer, we have to be very careful. This technology is a beautiful and wonderful technology, and it serves its purpose quite well. However, it is not waterproof. Water resistant, yes, but not waterproof. Also, Liquipel do make a point, even though not as prominently, that this is just a preventive measure, and devices that are treated should not be submerged in water, taken swimming or surfing, and such like. They also politely ask you not to repeat the demonstrations they have done on the website. What would be useful is if they were a bit more clear about these things, as I can imagine this can get them into a lot of mess from various sources.

Lastly though, I still think that despite the misunderstandings I have portrayed in this article, there is still a lot of potential and use from this upcoming technology, and it could hopefully revolutionize our device care issues in the future.

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