Why not more waterproof smartphones ?

[Zorachus]

My question is why aren't more phones following the S5 water resistant technology ? Seems like such a real world useful feature.


I don't even own the Galaxy S5, because I'm on ATT, and no custom Recovery allowed, so I won't buy it. But that's a story for a different thread. But if Recovery was available, the S5 would have been a slam dunk easy choice for me last year.

I am just surprised more manufactures don't make waterproof smartphones like the S5 and some of Sony's phones too ? I mean we know the technology is finally there to do it. Even Sony has it on a lot of their smartphones now.

Great for people with pools, or active around water like Fishing, boating, etc... even the accidental drop in the sink or bathtub is helpful.

I was shocked the iPhone 6 line wasn't water resistant.

Would like to see all smartphones waterproof like the S5 or Sony's, moving forward. Rumors are that the new Galaxy S6 will NOT have that water resistance like the S5, they will keep that for the Active S6 only.

 

[CHANG3D]

Almost every phone is water resistant to a certain level. Despite the "waterproof"-Ness of day the Galaxy S5 or the Sony Z3, the manufacturers still say to not swim in it, take it into shower, or wash it in the washing machine. This pretty much defeats the purpose, does it not?

A HTC One M8 could survive in a pool of tap water for minutes (90 minutes on some tests) and that's pretty much all people care about for accidentally dropping it in the sink, toilet, etc. It wasn't even sold on that feature. I'm all for having higher levels of water resistance, but selling the phones as "waterproof" is just gimmicky marketing unless it truly could be taken into a swimming pool, go with you in the shower, washed in a dish washer, or washed in the laundry machine.

 

[bloodypulp]

the manufacturers want consumers to buy more new phones and replace them often. the carriers want to attract consumers with the latest and greatest, locked into a new contract. phones are 'disposable' commodity items.

 

[T4rd]

Waterproofing a phone like Samsung did on the GS5 adds bulk and those annoying flaps to the phone, which goes against Apple's aesthetic design and they prioritize form > function. The GS5 gained larger bezels and size over the GS4 because of the waterproofing. If you want to waterproof your phone, put it in one of those overpriced Lifeproof cases. I'm sure it would be a nice feature to have built in for 1/3 or so smartphone users, but for the most part, I don't think it's something anyone cares much about.

From the rumors about the GS6 that I've seen so far, it will be dropping the water proofing as well, most likely because of aesthetics and size as mentioned above.

 

[Trimlock]

I hate cases but life proof us actually one if the smaller full body cases that are out there.

 

[Domingo]

This is one of the few reasons I got the S5 Active. I wanted something more durable without having one of those ridiculous cases.
Been happy thus far with the stock versions of everything, although the phone seems to be the black sheep of the modding community.

 

[T4rd]

This is one of the few reasons I got the S5 Active. I wanted something more durable without having one of those ridiculous cases.
Been happy thus far with the stock versions of everything, although the phone seems to be the black sheep of the modding community.

I didn't see the point in the S5 active whatsoever when the regular S5 was already waterproof (both are IP67 certified). The only advantage I saw in it was the physical buttons so you can still use the phone under water and it's a bit more shock resistant for drops. Think at that point, I'd just get a regular S5 and have much better (official and unofficial) software support and throw a thin TPU case on it for shock protection that's just as good and still have the same size/footprint.

 

[cyclone3d]

Waterproofing a phone like Samsung did on the GS5 adds bulk and those annoying flaps to the phone, which goes against Apple's aesthetic design and they prioritize form > function. The GS5 gained larger bezels and size over the GS4 because of the waterproofing. If you want to waterproof your phone, put it in one of those overpriced Lifeproof cases. I'm sure it would be a nice feature to have built in for 1/3 or so smartphone users, but for the most part, I don't think it's something anyone cares much about.

From the rumors about the GS6 that I've seen so far, it will be dropping the water proofing as well, most likely because of aesthetics and size as mentioned above.

It would be pretty easy for Apple to waterproof their phones, just as it would be for other mfgs to do so as well.

The flaps are not required unless you are trying to have it liquid proff against something that will corrode or short out the contacts.

The headphone and charger plug could very easily be sealed from the inside. I have wondered why they didn't do it that way for the charge port on the S5.

And as a testimony to the waterproofing of the S5, I lost mine overnight and couldn't find it. The next day I discovered that it had fallen out of my pocket when I was getting our of my car and had been soaked all night from rain and mud.. and I also think I ran over it once or twice with my car.

 

[Sixthsense]

the manufacturers want consumers to buy more new phones and replace them often. the carriers want to attract consumers with the latest and greatest, locked into a new contract. phones are 'disposable' commodity items.

I think they got that covered by intentionally pushing out firmware that makes the device near unusable (i.e. Nexus 4 & 5 with Lollipop, iPhone 4 & 4S with IOS7)

 

[Ozymandias]

It costs manufacturers more to design and make a waterproof phone and it might not lead to more sales. Classic cost-benefit analysis.

 

[bebble]

Waterproofing a phone like Samsung did on the GS5 adds bulk and those annoying flaps to the phone, which goes against Apple's aesthetic design and they prioritize form > function. The GS5 gained larger bezels and size over the GS4 because of the waterproofing. If you want to waterproof your phone, put it in one of those overpriced Lifeproof cases. I'm sure it would be a nice feature to have built in for 1/3 or so smartphone users, but for the most part, I don't think it's something anyone cares much about.

From the rumors about the GS6 that I've seen so far, it will be dropping the water proofing as well, most likely because of aesthetics and size as mentioned above.

I might be minority. I don't see much benefits for a smartphone to be waterproof.

 

[T4rd]

It would be pretty easy for Apple to waterproof their phones, just as it would be for other mfgs to do so as well.

The flaps are not required unless you are trying to have it liquid proff against something that will corrode or short out the contacts.

The headphone and charger plug could very easily be sealed from the inside. I have wondered why they didn't do it that way for the charge port on the S5.

And as a testimony to the waterproofing of the S5, I lost mine overnight and couldn't find it. The next day I discovered that it had fallen out of my pocket when I was getting our of my car and had been soaked all night from rain and mud.. and I also think I ran over it once or twice with my car.

I'm sure there's a reason their engineers decided to use the flaps instead of leaving them open and corrosion is probably part of it. Sony does the same thing on the Z phones. So I think if they're going to do it right, they should put the flaps on the phone to protect the ports. It's probably to keep debris (mud, sand, dirt, etc.) from gumming up the ports as well, which is pretty likely to happen if you drop it any natural body of water outside.

I have a similar testimony with my previous phone; my Note 2, which isn't even waterproofed whatsoever. I had it in my back pocket while running to my friend's car from a restaurant we ate at. We ran and hopped a bit because a torrential downpour hit as we left and the parking lot was flooded with rushing water running down it at least 1-2" deep. Well my Note bounced out of my pocket without me noticing it and we got in the car and left. I didn't realize it was missing until we got to his house 15 mins away and after tearing his car apart looking for it, I feared it came out while we ran to the car. Sure enough when we got there it was face down on the ground submerged with water rushing over it. I figured after sitting there for at least 30 mins under moving water it had to be toast, but I pulled the battery and shook it out, put it in a bag of rice when we got to his house and let it sit for a few hours.

I got impatient after a few hours (supposed to let it sit in rice for 24 hours minimum) and after fully expecting it to be bricked anyways, I pulled it out of the bag, popped the battery in and it powered up immediately. Everything worked fine other than the speaker and camera since it was fogged up a bit from all the moisture inside. But the next day it was dried up and both of those returned back to 100% functional. I was very surprised to have a fully functional phone after that. I did have a thin TPU case on it that seemed like it might have helped keep some water out of the back compartment, there was still plenty inside after I took the back off though.

Anyways, all that to say this; you don't necessarily need a waterproof phone for it to survive being submerged for a considerable amount of time. As Chang3d said too, the One M8 survived being submerged in water for over an hour in some tests you can find on Youtube. I'm not sure if OEMs are anticipating this somehow in their designs, but with how resilient they seem to be to water already, it seems that most phones should survive most submersion accidents people throw at them already, even if they're not designed for it. A normal phone probably wouldn't have survived your scenario, but I think most of the time someone accidentally drops their phone in water, they're able to immediately retrieve it before too much water has penetrated it or at worst in my case after 20-30 mins go back and find it.

I might be minority. I don't see much benefits for a smartphone to be waterproof.

Nah, I think you're in the majority. I'm with you as well. It's certainly nice to have, but with how it has to be implemented right now, I'll take a smaller phone with no flaps over waterproofing instead. If they can implement it with no trade-offs like that, then I'll be all for it.

 

[Kueller]

The most remarkable part of that story is that you have pockets big enough for a Note II to just "bounce" out of them...

 

[T4rd]

The most remarkable part of that story is that you have pockets big enough for a Note II to just "bounce" out of them...

Well given its size, it already stuck out of the top of my pocket maybe by a CM or so and I'm not a female/hipster so my pants aren't tight on my ass to keep it very secure. If I ever had to run with it in my back pocket or do anything that active, it would often fall out.

 

[dandragonrage]

My question is why aren't more phones following the S5 water resistant technology ?

Easy: Because it costs more and few consumers find this to be a requirement. Companies would rather save even a cent off the built cost if they will barely lose any sales as a result. Water resistance would probably even cost SEVERAL cents. OOH. WE CAN'T HAVE THAT. "Make 0.0000000017% more profit that we will never notice? Yes please!" - businesses.

 

[CHANG3D]

Now that I thought about it a bit more, a dishwasher safe flagship smartphone would really be awesome... But we can't even take them into a shower, so I doubt this is happening anytime soon.

I know I told my story a few times now, but I left my new phone (htc one m8) on top of my car and drove off. At just over 20 mAh, I heard a huge thud as if I hit something. But seeing anything I drove off a little bit more and then suddenly realized that my phone is missing and that lawn maintenance guys were waving me off in my backview mirror. So after like 5 minutes, I found my phone in a puddle of water close to the sewage drain scarred all over the back in a spiral-like pattern suggesting that it spun on its back, and chipped along the bottom edges and a top corner suggesting it bounced at least a couple of times before it started to spin. The front survived with not even a scratch. Unfortunately, this does not make me quality for the HTC free replacement. So I spent the next 5 months trying to break the front window in legitimate fashion and failed... So, back on topic, my phone was submerged in a puddle after being dropped, bounced, and spun around at over 20 mph. The water resistance level was not even marketed for this phone.

 

[Grazehell]

I think they got that covered by intentionally pushing out firmware that makes the device near unusable (i.e. Nexus 4 & 5 with Lollipop, iPhone 4 & 4S with IOS7)

What are you even taking about? I use both a Nexus 4 and 5 with Lollipop and they are fine. There is the memory leak issue but that only rears its head once in a while.

My girlfriend's Moto G with lollipop now that pretty bad but they I did tell to do a wipe to see it if helps but she didnt. About 20 of her apps update recently and she said those apps started acting better.

 

[-slash-]

Waterproofing a phone like Samsung did on the GS5 adds bulk and those annoying flaps to the phone, which goes against Apple's aesthetic design and they prioritize form > function. The GS5 gained larger bezels and size over the GS4 because of the waterproofing. If you want to waterproof your phone, put it in one of those overpriced Lifeproof cases. I'm sure it would be a nice feature to have built in for 1/3 or so smartphone users, but for the most part, I don't think it's something anyone cares much about.

From the rumors about the GS6 that I've seen so far, it will be dropping the water proofing as well, most likely because of aesthetics and size as mentioned above.

Rumor/specs I saw had the water resistant 1 meter 30 min rating for the S6.

I might be minority. I don't see much benefits for a smartphone to be waterproof.

Why not? Wet hands from rain, rain itself, dropping it in a puddle or snow, splashed in the kitchen, drink spilled on it, etc. Most phones now will survive that, but why not have the added piece of mind that the phone is designed to resist it without any negative effects.

For me a waterproof phone is paramount as I fish a ton and spend a lot of time on the water. I invested in a lifeproof and it lasted almost a full year before the charger door broke. Before that it has been soaked and all is good. It would be nice to have a waterproof phone that a thin lightweight shock bumper case could be put on. The lifeproof isn't huge by any means, but smaller is better. It;s much better than my old otterbox.

 

[Sixthsense]

What are you even taking about? I use both a Nexus 4 and 5 with Lollipop and they are fine. There is the memory leak issue but that only rears its head once in a while.

My girlfriend's Moto G with lollipop now that pretty bad but they I did tell to do a wipe to see it if helps but she didnt. About 20 of her apps update recently and she said those apps started acting better.

Perhaps for you, but for the majority of us it hasn't been smooth sailing for quite sometime. Look on this very subform, hell look on XDA

 

[Grazehell]

Perhaps for you, but for the majority of us it hasn't been smooth sailing for quite sometime. Look on this very subform, hell look on XDA

I mostly read about the Nexus 7's being an issue especially the 2012 edition

 

[Trimlock]

Even if a company makes an absolute water proof device they will never recommend you swim with it, or that it's safe in the shower.

No company would open itself up to lose that kind of money.