iPhone 3GS takes plunge in pool while shooting video... and lives to tell the tale

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 27th 2009 at 2:58PM

Now, we're hoping this isn't some elaborate hoax perpetrated on the kind citizens of the internet, because if it's real, it's amazing. Here's the deal: a man capturing video poolside with his iPhone 3GS somehow loses control of the device and ends up dunking the entire phone... while filming. Miraculously, he manages to fish out the handset and it's still rolling. We don't know what the lifespan was / is beyond this clip, but obviously long enough to upload the video or transfer it to a computer. Impressive stuff, though we strongly suggest you don't test this one out on your own. Check out the full video after the break.

[Via George Ruiz]

Filed under: Handsets, Apple

Tags: 3g s, 3gS, accident, amazing, apple, iphone, iphone 3g s, iphone 3gs, Iphone3gs, pool, underwater

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

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alex @ Jun 27th 2009 4:13PM

Iphones components are sealed well and most likely took long for water to reach components. Shortly after im sure it broke.

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ivancamilov @ Jun 27th 2009 10:45PM

Fake! it looks staged.

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Steve @ Jun 27th 2009 4:35PM

Definitely fake. You can clearly see the strap at the 30.75 second mark if you step through the video frame by frame.

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gts @ Jun 27th 2009 4:47PM

an otter case?

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Roger Alford @ Jun 27th 2009 6:28PM

First...A REALLY FANTASTIC EDITING JOB
Second...The phone was probably heat sealed in a bag so it remained water proof
Third...Anyone at a pool with a phone deserves it to be dunked!

Neutral

Wobbly @ Jun 27th 2009 6:40PM

If this is real, it may be attributable to the non-removable battery. Since the battery connections are not near any case openings (like they would be if there was a battery cover) it would take more than 10 sec.'s for the water to reach those.

In the long run, that phones probably dead, but its best chance at salvation would be to take the battery out and let it dry for several hours. OH THE IRONY!

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carcomptoy @ Jun 27th 2009 7:23PM

"It still frickin' works!" - Priceless. I wonder what he has to say now...I'm sure water finally got in through the speakers or something.

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Galen20K @ Jun 27th 2009 7:44PM

Ehhhhh....

Real or Not, Keep that piece of Junk at the Bottom of the POol. Maybe it'll be More useful as a Floating Device than a Non-Functional cell Phone.

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cody craig @ Jun 27th 2009 9:21PM

haha i love people that dis the iphone when they are just jealous they dont have one yet bc they are stuck with verizon or sprint

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Galen20K @ Jun 27th 2009 10:26PM

Not really cody, we do it because its Junk. Look up on ANY mobile tech site or BB and tell me you don't find More People who's "precious" iFail doesn't keep its 3G signal longer than 2 seconds.

Besides some of us have Money to pay the ETF and don't really care what carrier they're on unlike you apparently. Its not our Fault ATT sucks Balls.

ta ta Cod

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Rob @ Jun 30th 2009 12:19AM

Okay Galen, try posting something productive. Which phone do you prefer? What exactly about the iPhone bothers you? Have you owned one?

Oh, while you're at it.. Take a few English courses. It's nExt To Impossible to propErly Read Your Posts when I Can't figuRe Out Where Sentences Start and stOp DuE to YouR baD Capitalization aNd laCK of proper pUncTuation.

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Sunira @ Jun 27th 2009 9:48PM

I don't know about the iPhone itself but I just sent the headphones it came with through a wash and everything still works fine including the mic and control buttons. I did the same thing with my last set of headphones and they didn't make it. I guess this stuff is kinda water resistant.

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Steve @ Jun 27th 2009 10:25PM

While impressive, I think a lot of these things are anecdotical. I work for a large cellphone company in sales, and there's about a 50/50 split of "i washed this phone and it still works" versus "this phone got rained on and now it won't turn back on". Personally my only experience was washing a Sansa mp3 player in the pocket of my pants and it actually still worked perfectly fine afterwards, though the battery was donezo about 4-5 months later. Still a cool video. It's amazing how electronics can survive in water sometimes.

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Brian @ Jun 28th 2009 8:45AM

A bottle of cough syrup opened up in my bag once, submersing my sansa in it, it went in all in the screen, the back, everywhere, and it still worked; completely loaded up on cough syrup. the screen was just a little red ;)

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Michael @ Jun 28th 2009 7:25AM

I just took my iPhones (2 of them) through being capsized in a lake, twice, from a canoe. Only protection they had were two zipplocked plastic bags. First time no water got in, second time the first bag filled and the second bag leaked some in and were below water for a few minutes.

I believe the video.

And on the guys YouTube video he says the phone is still working and the strap you see in a shadow is a wrist strap he added to a rubber case he had on the phone. He attributes the rubber case to likely being what saved it.

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