How to Waterproof Your Smart Phone

"Whoops!"

Ker-PLUNK!

These are not words or sound effects you want hear where your spanking new $200 or $500 smart phone is concerned.

But it is accepted that the biggest cause of smart phone damage is "Whoops!" and ker-PLUNK, usually right in the toilet bowl. And if it isn't the toilet, it's a puddle. Or a swimming pool. Or the kitchen sink while you're washing dishes.

Water. A smart phone's worst enemy.

It doesn't have to be. A number of companies such as P2i (using the trade name Aridion, also called Splash-Guard on several Motorola smartphones and the Xyboard tablet) and HzO (under the trade name WaterBlock) have created processes to protect future smart phones against liquid damage. Either spillage or a complete dunking.

Both these companies use processes designed to be implemented during the manufacturing process. A new company called Liquipel has gone a step further. If you send Liquipel your smart phone, the company will waterproof it.

Right now, Liquipel is equipped to waterproof only a limited number of phones: iPhone 4S, 4 or 3GS, the HTC EVO, HTC EVO Shift, HTC MyTouch 4G, the HTC Thunderbolt, the Motorola X/X2 and the Samsung Charge. But the company is adding new models all the time.

How waterproof? Liquipel says a treated phone can withstand a dunking in 3.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes, but company founder Danny McPhail says "we cover 90 percent of water damage – drops in the toilet, answering the phone or texting in the shower – but don't take it swimming or scuba diving."

How much, how fast?

You understand that a brand new and valuable service such as waterproofing your iPhone doesn't come cheap.

Firstly, you have to pay for shipping, there and back.

For $59, Liquipel will take a day to water-proof your phone and get it back to you via ground for free, in two days with second-day air for $24.41, or overnight for $58.84 (or, you can save around $20 and include a pre-paid FedEx or UPS return slip).

In other words, if you overnight your phone to Liquipel on Monday, you could get it back by Thursday.

For an extra $10, shave a day off the turn-around – send your phone out Monday and get it back Wednesday.

For another $10, Liquipel will add something it calls Gadget Filmz, a three-layer film that, according to McPhail, "is so clear, it's hard to tell there is any protection on the device. It helps prevent cracked screens by the way it will absorb shock. What really sets us apart from our competition is the way our film feels like glass. Not some peace of rubbery feel with that orange peel look our competitors have."

He's right. I sent in my iPhone 3GS to be Liquipel'ed and it looks and feels the same as when I sent it out, and used in the shower (or is that TMI?), where my iPhone acted as though the drops from the water were my finger touches.

Not that smart phone bathing behavior is recommended. When I got my 3GS back, it came in a lovely tin box packed in a cloth bag inside some cushiony foam and a six-point "if it gets wet" instruction list, which includes a stern recommendation against your device coming in contact with any liquids.

In other words, don't try the shower or the scene you see in the photo at home. Theoretically, a phone treated during its original manufacturing will be better protected than your phone sent in to Liquipel after-the-fact. When there will be pre-treated phones, from Liquipel or HzO is anyone's guess.

When you add in the shipping, Liquipelling sounds expensive, but it's still cheaper than insurance ("Should You Insure Your Gadgets?") and certainly cheaper than buying a new phone.

Plus, now you'll be able to text in the shower. Sort of.