Grand Award Winner: Liquipel
Never again lose your phone to water damage.
Moisture destroys 82 million phones annually, yet manufacturers do little to safeguard against it. In January, California-based Liquipel launched the first aftermarket service that waterproofs phones and media players. Engineers place the phone in a vacuum-sealed chamber and inject a carbon-based hydrophobic gas. The gas particles bond to the phone in a layer one thousandth the thickness of human hair.
Because the particles are so small, they also slip through seams to coat internal components, such as the processor and battery. The waterproofing takes less than 30 minutes, and has no noticeable effect on the phone’s look or feel. Liquipel then mails the device back to the customer, better than new.
Compatible devices: Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X, and 25 more
Turnaround time: 2 days
Price: $59 (plus shipping)
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No doubting that waterproof phones would be great but find it interesting you made liquipel the Grand Award Winner when their coating and claims are under investigation in Australia for being misleading and false. Did you see the Choice article at all?
Long time lurker on popsci. Decided to make this my first post. I have been interested in this for a while as I was curious about it's actual application performance and I typically see poor reviews. Just google liquipel fail and you will get a long list of complaints about the performance of the product versus what they claim it can do. Like 'davidd80' said above they are under investigation and they have been an awarded with a humurous prize of number 3 in the 2012 Choice Shonky's Awards, see it here, http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/awards/shonky-awards/shonkys/the-2012-shonky-awards/page/liquipel.aspx . So know I have a question. Why is popsci writing this article with little research and exaggerated claims?
I love liquipel. They've saved my iPhone 5 when i was at the Bar. My buddy spilt his beer all over the bar and my phone. I was in utter disbelief when my phone was still functioning. My sudden terror was replaced by the peace of mind from liquipel.
Nice, I like a profitable obstacle to the planned electronic environmental weakness of devices, of which the engineers and designers are aware of and choose to ignore.
I hope this company makes a ka-zillion buck-aroos.
I suppose I could say dollars, but the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank is working hard to make those worthless.
Liquipel is a great product! I did my own test and it works great!
I went to their store in Santa Ana, California they treated my iPhone 5 and it WORKED GREAT the process was smooth and the results were real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z16TTmQicr8
Lol anyone Australian knows this "choice" group is definitely not that reputable and if you watch any of the videos they clearly don't understand the proper usage of the product... I've been wanting a Liquipelled device but am waiting for my new 5... As soon as I get it I plan on sending it in!! Now if only someone had a case with a GPS so I could find my 4 I lost this weekend!!
I Love Love this LIQUIPEL!! LIQUIPEL has saved my phone twice. Once from falling in the swimming pool and the other from my granddaughter who was playing with my phone and she put it in a bucket of melting snow.
Thank you LIQUIPEL!
Most reviewers of Liquipel fail to run a control test; they don't dunk un-coated devices and then compare those results with coated devices. CHOICE, however, did conduct a more proper test and their negative findings are more convincing. Hopefully Popular Science readers (and editors) will ignore bad science and focus on proper testing. (Contrary to popular belief, many - but certainly not all - electronic devices will survive a quick dunk.)
http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/awards/shonky-awards/shonkys/the-2012-shonky-awards/page/liquipel.aspx
PopSci, how about an article comparison testing coatings from: P2i, NeverWet, HzO, and Liquipel?
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanocoatings-for-waterproofing-mobile-devices-continue-to-make-a-splash-at-ces