Sony started it last year with their flagships being waterproof. Samsung followed up with the Active and then this year the Galaxy S5. For some reason a lot of users think they need their smartphone to be waterproof. Not sure if people are planning on swimming with their phones or maybe using it in the shower or bath. Maybe those people wanting are those who you hear about who drop their phones in the toilet. When the OnePlus One’s specs were announced no waterproof/resistant rating was announced and there was a few grumbles in the OnePlus community.
Now it appears that the OnePlus may have some form of water resistance but has just not been certified. The Galaxy S5 is certified IP67 (waterproof to one metre for 30 minutes) and the HTC One M8 is IPx3 rated (protected from water spraying up to 60 degrees from vertical at 10 liters/min at a pressure of 80-100 kN/m2 for 5 min- because that happens all the time for me) but the OnePlus One does not have any water resistant certification at all. Waterproof certification costs money to have it run through the required tests and with OnePlus attempting to meet an extremely aggressive price range there seems that there wasn’t any room in the budget to have the OnePlus certified to any type of water resistant rating.
While I am unsure how waterproof a standard phone is as I for one have never been willing to test that it seems the OnePlus One is water resistant, at least. One brave owner/reviewer of a OnePlus One has run the OnePlus through a series of tests in the rain, including basic sprinkling of rain, placing in a puddle for 10 seconds and even tossed across the grass. The OnePlus One survived all these tests without missing a beat.
It is good to see that the OnePlus One can survive a bit of water but the tests were hardly performed under strict laboratory conditions so I would be hesitant to take it as gospel. Do not expect me to run these tests when mine arrives later next week.
Does this change your mind about the OnePlus One? Are you someone who needs some form of waterproof rating in your phone? Why?
Six months ago, my wife accidentally dropped her 1 year old Samsung Galaxy S3 4G into a pond at the Cleland Conservation Park. When a Park Ranger was able to retrieve the phone from the bottom of the pond some 4 hours later, the phone was still working, even though it has no certification for water (or dust) resistance – so I’m not too surprised that the OnePlus One survived okay. While this is an extreme example, the reality is that accidents happen, and phones do get wet – so the more resistance to water and dust, the better, IMHO.
As a motorcyclist… water proof phones are the best thing ever. Guess I’m one of those who “thinks” I need a waterproof phone.
Having a water proof phone means I no longer have to put my phone in a zip lock bag when I go to the beach, it also helps with kids as they don’t understand how water breaks things and I can take photo’s of bath/pool time without being worried if it gets splashed or slips out of my hand.
I’d highly recommend something waterproof for anyone with small children.
Have any invites to share Scott?
Unfortunately not yet. Stay tuned 😉
You might recognise my username from Whirlpool Scott, we have interacted a a bunch of times there on Android sub forums. Just trying to rejig your memory in case you do end up with some invites
FYI, some people like to take their mobile running. Even in the rain with sweat and all. A waterproof phone is handy in these situations.
Good point.
Most phones can take a quick ‘splash’, so these results don’t shock me. The advantage of buying say a Sony is that if it does get water damage, its hard for Sony to knock back a claim vs oneplus which can knock it back in a heartbeat as its not water proof rated etc.
Very good point. I wonder how much it does cost for waterproof certification…
The Sony phones are IP58 certified which is better water resistance than either the Samsung or HTC. The first no. is for dust intrusion, the second for water, with higher numbers being better protection.