My fancy schmancy Droid Beach Case

[megaera]

So, for those of you angsting about your precious glass, or more realistically, your precious internal components and sand/steam/water but unable or unwilling to buy a case, might I suggest....a Ziploc bag!. Specifically, I've found the quart size Ziploc freezer bag to be almost ideal for the Droid at the beach...or the Droid near the shower...or the Droid while brushing one's teeth. It's not going to waterproof it, but it'll make it a whole lot more water and steam resistant while not interfering with your ability to use the touch screen or hear the speaker. Also, it is excellent to use if your fingers are going to be wet or grimy or some combination ofn the two. For instance, a week ago when I was on "vacation" yet had to be available for a call. I popped my Droid in a Ziploc and went to the pool; sure enough, that's when they called. I picked up the call through the Ziploc, asked them to hold, and had the time to dry my hands and hair before unbagging the Droid.

I wouldn't try, you know, testing the limits of the Ziploc's airtightness, but as an emergency or just water-resisting measure: it's cheap and surprisingly effective. NOTE: I WILL NOT BE HELD REPONSIBLE IF YOU SHOULD TAKE YOUR DROID SCUBA DIVING IN A ZIPLOC. This is not to be taken as a foolproof method of keeping your Droid safe. Much like "safe sex", this only reduces NOT ELIMINATES your chances of damaging your Droid. OTOH, should you find yourself stuck in the rain on the side of the road with no umbrella, needing to Google AAA, a Ziploc will start looking pretty nice.

May this help someone keep their Droid from dying.

 

[s1ckGhost]

wax mold may help too.. or laminating.... or not being near water if you for sure don't trust your grasp...

Cept for sand.. sand is a b*tch.. no matter what your doing it always finds a way in.

 

[somekid13]

that is an awesome idea, as me and my wife think. definitely will be using it when we head to the beach the next time. keep up the good thinking buddy.

 

[Hemorrdrhoid]

Heh, that's my ghetto beach case, too. I always have a Ziploc somewhere on me, just in case.

 

[Its my job to know]

I wouldn't do this if I were you. I filled a Ziploc quart bag full of water, sand, and steam threw my phone in and it no longer seems to work.

 

[RTAdams89]

Vacuum sealing works nicely too.

 

[megaera]

I wouldn't do this if I were you. I filled a Ziploc quart bag full of water, sand, and steam threw my phone in and it no longer seemes to work.

Pshaw, without then dropping an anvil on it, then that experiment is rendered completely invalid.

 

[megaera]

Vacuum sealing works nicely too.

As does sealing your Droid in an accursed pentagram annointed with the blood of slain geek virgins....Not that I've used that method or anything. I've also heard that if you offer up the immortal souls of both a VZW and a Motorola rep to Yog Sogoth (and HOW does Swype not have Yog in the dictionary) on the night of a waning Cheshire moon, you can get a Droid with a bubbly keyboard.

 

[s1ckGhost]

As does sealing your Droid in an accursed pentagram annointed with the blood of slain geek virgins....Not that I've used that method or anything. I've also heard that if you offer up the immortal souls of both a VZW and a Motorola rep to Yog Sogoth (and HOW does Swype not have Yog in the dictionary) on the night of a waning Cheshire moon, you can get a Droid with a bubbly keyboard.

...Weeeiiird... I heard this too.

 

[megaera]

...Weeeiiird... I heard this too.

Shh...if you talk about it, Steve Jobs will sick his Technomancy Division (specifically, Infernal Affairs) on you for abuse of proprietary incantations. Gods help you if you violate the Gates-Brin-Jobs Cthonic Accords of '98...

 

[Jerry-rigged]

LOL @ ya'll'all...

FWIW, the ziplock is good only for "damp" or light splash protection. I do a lot of kayaking and fishing, and usally keep my phone in either a cigerette drybox, or a ziplock freezer bag, in a shirt pocket. Only had an issue one time, and that was a day I accidently went swimming while kayaking. Ziplock was sealed, but let water in; dead phone.

Yes, I still use Ziplocks when on the boat with the phone.

 

[s1ckGhost]

LOL @ ya'll'all...

Ziplock was sealed, but let water in; dead phone.

Yes, I still use Ziplocks when on the boat with the phone.

Tragedy.

 

[Deanie]

Dry bags are water proof, come in various sizes, are clear, and float if there's enough air when dropped in water. However, the plastic is much thicker, so you probably could not use the phone while in the bag.

I mention this for kayaking/boating. I use them for my keys with the remote, cell phone, and sometimes camera.

 

[PittCaleb]

I will also give props to standard "dry bags" - I must have 5 of them of various sizes for hiking, boating, camping, etc. I use a medium sized one at Six Flags even - put cell phone in it and clip it around my belt. I've only killed one phone in 14 years of cell use - on an amusement park ride. Doh! That won't happen again.

You can find them at any sporting goods store or better at a try camping/outdoors store (think REI, Cabella's, EMS, Bass Pro Shops but a good Modell's or Dick's should also have them)

PittCaleb

 

[MiXoLoGiSt]

Sounds like a good idea. I'm at the beach all the time here in Cali so it would be nice not to have my droid filled with sand at the end of the day. I have yet to tae the Droid to the beach though.

 

[megaera]

LOL @ ya'll'all...

FWIW, the ziplock is good only for "damp" or light splash protection. I do a lot of kayaking and fishing, and usally keep my phone in either a cigerette drybox, or a ziplock freezer bag, in a shirt pocket. Only had an issue one time, and that was a day I accidently went swimming while kayaking. Ziplock was sealed, but let water in; dead phone.

Yes, I still use Ziplocks when on the boat with the phone.

You know, I was actually working myself up to mild irritation as I read this, thinking, "That's why I said it wouldn't make a Droid waterproof!" But then I realized that when it comes to keeping others from making idiotic choices and blaming it on me, that redundancy is good, redundancy is good, redundancy is good. It's even better when other people make the same point in clearer language so that the chances of someone misinterpreting what you say are less likely (though still, sadly, not impossible.) Thanks to you, Jerry-rigged, for elucidating the NOT WATERPROOF point. After reading your post, I had a sudden, nightmarish vision of someone diving into the ocean with a giant grin and Ziploc'd Droid in hand, thinking that a Ziploc will protect the Droid from total immersion.

Dry bags are indeed wonderful if you think there's a chance your Droid may go for a swim with you. Many thanks to y'all for pointing that out. In the interest of diversity, I should point out that REI has a pouch that will let you operate your touchscreen, etc, while keeping it safe from water for $15, here: Seattle Sports E-Merse Submersible Electronics Case at REI.com. It's not quite on the same end of the cheap/available to expensive/exclusive continuum as a Ziploc, but if you intend to do something like kayaking or river rafting, it's a much safer choice.

Whichever or whatever you choose, may your Droids be content and unfried!

 

[Grecho]

take the ziplock one step further and use a heat sealer, setting up a series of "chambers" between the edges of the bag and your droid center it in the middle of the temporary container and rip out when done

 

[Techdroid]

I bought the insurance. I'm still careful with it, but if it happens...50.00 gets a new one.

 

[Titaniac]

Yep. Used a ziplock sandwich sized bag while I presssure washed the house and driveway. Worked great! You can flatten it right up against the glass and touch works flawlessly. It doesn't impair the volume much either; however one person did say that I sounded a little muffled.but he could understand me fine. Cheap and very effective.

 

[viomonk]

I totally did the offering of the reps way back and it just so happened to carry down to my droid. My keys are nice and bubbly. Maybe the bubbly keys are a result of the blood spilled onto the phone and filling under the keys.

 

[milrtime83]

I bought the insurance. I'm still careful with it, but if it happens...50.00 gets a new one.

$90 now for "advanced devices" including the Droid.

 

[inssane]

So, for those of you angsting about your precious glass, or more realistically, your precious internal components and sand/steam/water but unable or unwilling to buy a case, might I suggest....a Ziploc bag!. Specifically, I've found the quart size Ziploc freezer bag to be almost ideal for the Droid at the beach...or the Droid near the shower...or the Droid while brushing one's teeth. It's not going to waterproof it, but it'll make it a whole lot more water and steam resistant while not interfering with your ability to use the touch screen or hear the speaker. Also, it is excellent to use if your fingers are going to be wet or grimy or some combination ofn the two. For instance, a week ago when I was on "vacation" yet had to be available for a call. I popped my Droid in a Ziploc and went to the pool; sure enough, that's when they called. I picked up the call through the Ziploc, asked them to hold, and had the time to dry my hands and hair before unbagging the Droid.

I wouldn't try, you know, testing the limits of the Ziploc's airtightness, but as an emergency or just water-resisting measure: it's cheap and surprisingly effective. NOTE: I WILL NOT BE HELD REPONSIBLE IF YOU SHOULD TAKE YOUR DROID SCUBA DIVING IN A ZIPLOC. This is not to be taken as a foolproof method of keeping your Droid safe. Much like "safe sex", this only reduces NOT ELIMINATES your chances of damaging your Droid. OTOH, should you find yourself stuck in the rain on the side of the road with no umbrella, needing to Google AAA, a Ziploc will start looking pretty nice.

May this help someone keep their Droid from dying.

So would "double bagging" work better when I have safe sex with my droid?
ROTF

Thanks for the tip, I forgot about this. First touch screen in a while.

 

[megaera]

I totally did the offering of the reps way back and it just so happened to carry down to my droid. My keys are nice and bubbly. Maybe the bubbly keys are a result of the blood spilled onto the phone and filling under the keys.

Kudos on the offering, but don't be silly, everyone knows the keys are bubbly with the screams of screams of HTC techs who refused to reveal Sense UI secrets to Motorola. That's why there are so few bubbly keyboards floating around; after a while it gets reeeeeeeeeally hard to disguise the abduction and slaughter of workers from a rival company, so Motorola trashed it as not cost-effective. (Coincidentally, that same measure led to the outsourcing of the headphone jack to Flatland, where the lack of a third dimension resulted in the jack we know and loathe today.)

 

[kbayer]

Ok, now I'm at a crossroads.

I was all set to get an Otterbox, but for the same money, I can get several dozen Megaera-endorsed-Ziplocs. Hell, for the sake o'functionality, looks like the Ziplocs can outperform Otterbox from here to Hades and back. Ziplocs are also disposable and the customization possibilities are mind-boggling.

Granted, Otterbox has Ziploc beat in the "looks" department, but if the Droid's gonna be in my pocket 95% of the day, who cares? A Megaera Fancy Schmancy Droid Beach Case is easier to slip on and remove, will keep the dust and fingerprints off, keep the pocket lint out, and heck, if I ever need a place to stick a peanut butter sandwich, I'm covered.

Bravo, megaera... Bravo!

BTW, I would have responded earlier, but had to go Google "Yog Sogoth" and got tied up in the Wikipedia labyrinth. That was one deep, winding, rabbit hole...

Sheeesh. The things ya gotta do to get a bubbly keyboard...

 

[tobiasg]

another vote for the ziplocs - I use them biking to keep the sweat off my Droid when it is in the jersey pocket. Occasionally I think about trying to find some way to mount the phone but battery life if I leave screen on bright enough to see and feeling secure about the mount leaves me fine with sticking it in a jersey pocket.