LG phone resurrects itself after laundry debacle

This isn't the kind of thing one normally admits. Frankly, it's embarassing. But on Saturday I accidentally laundered my LG VX6100 cell phone. It was in the pocket of my blue jeans, which I had thrown into the washing machine with a bunch of other dirty clothes.

I almost gave it up for dead. But over the past four days the phone gradually dried out and has slowly healed itself.

How not to clean a phone

I had just come in from some yard work and shed my muddy pants in the laundry room. I carefully emptied the contents of my pockets onto a nearby table -- keys, wallet -- before tossing in the jeans and turning the knob. I used the usual amount of liquid concentrate detergent, ran the normal wash cycle and selected the hot water setting, with no extra rinse option.

The phone was turned on.

Moment of horror

About 20 minutes later I went looking for my phone. It didn't take long before I realized to my horror that it must be in the washing machine, which had completed the soak and agitation test and was in full centrifuge mode. Suffice it to say, the phone was no longer working when I removed it (although it was much shinier and all of the keyboard crumbs had disappeared).

I've had six generations of LG VX series phones fail since first purchasing one in 2005 - an intersting story in itself. All of those phones failed, for a variety of reasons. Each time, Verizon has replaced it under warranty. (But never once, mind you, did I need to use the expensive cell phone insurance I had purchased for this very eventuality.)

This time, however, I was sure my luck had run out. I had killed it for good. Electronics can survive water, but not when turned on. Surely the phone had shorted out. Time for an eBay replacement, I thought. So I placed it on the counter, battery compartment open, and started shopping online.

Heartbeat detected

On Sunday morning I picked up the phone and decided to try turning it on before tossing it and buying a new one. To my surprise, it turned on, but neither the external nor internal LCDs worked. Working with a jeweler, I tried disassembling the phone to dry it out but couldn't quite get it to come apart.

Shake and bake

Computerworld's editor in chief Scot Finnie, reminding me of my old testing lab days at BYTE Magazine, suggested using my personal environmental chamber (the home oven) to dry the thing out. I had nothing to lose, but I didn't hold out much hope. Since I couldn't get the unit apart to dry it properly (and Verizon said it no longer tries to disassemble phones), the moisture would have to come out the way it went in: through the tiny speaker grilles and around the keypad. And if the water was inside the liquid crystal layers it wasn't likely to come back out.

But I put it in the oven anyway, at 150 degrees, Monday night. Then I proceeded to watch a movie, hit the sack, and completely forgot about it until about 6:00 a.m. Tuesday.

My wife, who got up before me, retrieved the parched unit and served it up on a baking dish.

As I examined the cooked clamshell I recalled testing the temperature range limit specifications of test unit laptops in BYTE's environmental chamber. I recalled how various rubber and plastic parts had softened and started to liquify, much like asphalt on a hot summer day. But as I examined the phone, breathing in that not entirely unpleasant fresh-baked plastic aroma, everything appeared to be just fine. More importantly, all of the condensation had disappeared from the displays.

LCD: Resurrection

After the proper cooling off period, I eagerly turned it on. Once again it powered up, and this time I was able to make a call. Unfortunately, the main LCD was bright white, with a barely perceptible ghost overlay of the original display image. The external LCD, however, came up as bright and colorful as ever. I could now see the signal strength, battery charge status and voice mail icon on that display, but my address book and other menu functions were still invisible.

That was yesterday. Then, last night, I opened the phone and the display briefly came up as though nothing had ever happened. It appeared for a few seconds, then winked out when I tried to show my wife.

Today, four days after my day of laundry infamy, the display came alive again. But this time it stayed on. The speaker sounds a bit more tinny than before, but I can live with that.

Now where the heck did I put that iPod?