iPhone Not Suitable for Marine Environment

[SoonerSailor]

My Motorola Slivr has gone through a full washing machine cycle, and after a gentle drying it has worked fine since. A couple of friends have lost Iphones to fresh water. Still, I am jealous of the Iphone's functionality.

[tami]

I've got a first-gen iPhone and have had no problems, and it's 100% humidity every day on the Gulf Coast. It's in a case, but the case has an open front (the screen's not covered)

[velero]

Therapy,

I use weatherundergound.com radar. I have it set up as an icon and it opens a new browser. the best radar grapics on a small device. The con is that is relatively slow because its loaded w/data and maps.

http://i.wund.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=39.02009964,-77.01132202&brand=iphone go to the botton of the page select radar once you have the radar page save it as an icon.

V49

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by velero

Therapy,

I use weatherundergound.com radar. I have it set up as an icon and it opens a new browser. the best radar grapics on a small device. The con is that is relatively slow because its loaded w/data and maps.

http://i.wund.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=39.02009964,-77.01132202&brand=iphone go to the botton of the page select radar once you have the radar page save it as an icon.

V49

Cool,
Thanks,
I will send it to my friend - he has an iphone.

[CarlF]

I know two people who've had iphones die from moisture. It's an expensive problem and you don't get much sympathy from Apple or ATT. Maybe it's another reason Apple's stock is up so much.

I found the ziplock "snack size" plastic bags fit the Iphone quite well. The touch screen works fine through the plastic. I pop the iphone in a bag whenever I take it on deck. When the humidity is especially bad I toss in a few grains of rice too.

My favorite Iphone apps are the Navionics Charts - not for the charts but for the graphical tide chart. The other is Windalert (real time wind speed graphs - including direction and gust speed) for just about every US harbor. It's avaialble on a PC as Sailflow.com. Won't work offshore but for coastal work it's great.

Carl

[nautical62]

Interesting to hear about the 95% humidity voiding the warranty. It gets that humid frequently where I live and I'm 1000 miles from the ocean.

I've taken mine on about 5 shorter cruises of 2-4 weeks each and it's still going strong.

[hellosailor]

Most of the cell phone companies in the US are ordering their cell phones (from all makers) with moisture sensors in them. This is to ensure that phones which have been used in the rain (literally) will not be a warranty expense for them any more, since most electronics can't stand rain or spray to any extent.

The sensors usually are in the form of a small white paper dot, about 2-3mm in size, which turns red when exposed to moisture. Nothing fancy, just a test paper. There are usually several of them in any phone, in the battery compartment, on the main board, etc.

Once they turn color they cannot be reverted back to white.

Each cellco typically has just one 'ruggedized' or 'milspec' phone these days, with a better sealed case but a fairly basic feature set.

I'd be curious to see the actual warranty, versus some of the state and federal warranty laws regarding "normal" and "suitable" for typical consumer use. Which of course will include days beyond 95% humidity.

[captmick39]

Originally Posted by cantxsailor

I don't have a Iphone but a really old Sanyo scp7050. It has none of the extra stuff but it is indestructable. I has been in fresh water at least 3x and salt 2x. I take out the battery flush everything with fresh water, shake dry, and put it on the dashboard in the sun to dry. No problems. It is so old the rubber "armor" is starting to fall off. I drop it all the time with seemingly no ill effects and the battery lasts for about a week between charges.

I think some of the stuff for sale now is just crap and they use various excuses to blame YOU for it's demise. 95% humidity will kill this phone? Are they kidding? That thing wouldn't last 5minutes in Houston in August. Or 10min in my right front pocket if you get my drift.

Seems the polish is coming off some of the Apple products but my Ipod shuffle seems to put up with a lot of abuse and still works so much better than carting around its 75cd altenative................m

Have Both a palm 755p And a Sanyo RL-7300; The Palm is 1.5 yrs old & even w/screen cover and a Serious balistic nylon flapped protective pouch...looks like it went thru the garbage disposal. The Sanyo is 6 yrs old, has the extended (fattest) battery in it and YES, have to carry both.
The palm is for "work" and the Sanyo is for both wk & personal, sadly has to be kept for often inland in N.Central FL. (& Occasionally offshore) only ANALOG Signal can be received.

All the "new" pure digital phones are useless as tits on a bore hog when digital reception gets spotty, meanwhile, the analog is STILL doing just fine. The Analog signal CAN connect to the internet, very slowly. Have data cables for both, use both as a modem for laptop while aboard, and when reading the details on the "i-phones" they stated clearly "not for marine invironments, OR humidity >(greater than) 95%.

Since anywhere in FL (like Houston) is greater than that % at least 2-3-4 times WEEKLY (if not all Week Long)...plus their scam of charging for EVERYTHING, while the phone is about as exciting as my sanyo w/o all the "downloads"...I opted "not".

W/Palm at laptop, used as modem and data cable for Garmin GPS & that chartplotter interfacing w/both vhf's (other than the handhelds), Radar & the AH4000, it's "all good". Before extended cruising we'd update the whole electronics realm aboard w/either SSB or Sat.Phone (or both).

Steve Jobs didn't get any of my money for the RCA MP3 player, or an Iphone...probably never will either if they can't be bothered to build a bombproof version. Since he's all about the $$$$,(as in "who cares about last years model?") that most likely will never happen.

[KMIA]

I don't know anything about the iPhone moisture sensors, but on my phones i touch up the moisture sensors with a bit of clear nail polish. It makes the whole phone instantly waterproof...as far as your service provider or insurance company knows