I had my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate for about 2 months before it sat in water that spilled inside of a leather bag. It was probably submerged for about 1.5 hours.
I made a horrible mistake after I realized it had been soaked... First, I took the phone out, let it drip, shook it off, hurriedly opened the back and took out the battery and SIM card and started soaking up the visible water with a paper towel and my tshirt.
This wasn't the mistake, however it appeared for a moment to me that the phone really hadn't gotten that much water inside. I thought perhaps the water bottle had just recently popped open and the phone was better off than originally seemed.
Like an idiot, I pieced the whole thing together and tried to power it up. At first, it was doing just fine. I got the start screen, etc., with audio. But then you could hear the inner gadgets grinding, squeaking and obviously running into difficulty. There was definitely water within, and if it wasn't deep enough when I started, it sure was now. That stupid move probably cost me the phone and blew the circuitry. Regardless, I took the phone apart and that night had it soaking in a freezer bag full of rice. The next day I took it to ATT - no help there, not worth relaying. I then took it to a professional cellular battery store where they tested my battery and found 0 energy (not sure of unit measure here? Point it it was dead.) and then he put a NEW battery into my phone and also got nothing, indicating that the phone itself was probably toast.
So I was 3500 miles from home at the time this occurred and since I needed to have a phone I ended up getting a replacement from Best Buy for free. I was very lucky; when I say replacement, I mean I just went in and got a new one; they didn't replace the old one. Due to my ATT plan I was able to get it at no charge. I still have the old one and it sat in that Ziploc bag of rice for over 1 month. I didn't want to touch it again or ruin it any further.
Today I took a look at it and decided to plug it in and see what happens. I put the battery back inside and hit the power button - nothing. I plugged it in and the bottom row of menu buttons (settings/home/back/search) lit up. Hope!
It "charged" all morning and by the end of the afternoon the phone was scorching hot, and most of the heat was coming from the battery within. The home row of keys are still illuminated, but I haven't seen anything else to indicate that there's life in this phone.
The only reason I'm not trashing it it because I have pics on there that I have .01% hope are salvageable.
I took the power cord and thought for the hell of it I would plug it into the computer and see if the computer recognized or picked up any hint of files inside. Nothing, although the phone still lit up on the home keys as though it were being charged.
Now, my original phone did NOT come with an SD card, and the guys at Best Buy thought that was strange. The new phone DID come with an SD card, so that's nice - but I also downloaded an app to back up photos and videos online automatically - it was recommended by Best Buy and I know it's unlikely to be the greatest but it'll work for now until I have time to find a better app - it's called MyIQ (I think that's how you spell it) and it's offered by Best Buy for free.
I also read that, contrary to popular ideas, blow-drying it is NOT a good idea because it can actually push tiny droplets of water into even tinier spaces and cause more damage.
Finally, obvious indicators of internal water damage are the stripes on your phone and battery. If you look at the top portion of your battery you'll see the metal slivers that have to align when you put it in; beside that is usually a pale, white square/rectangle shape. You will also see another similar-type square on the inside of your phone where the battery goes. If either or both of these are pink, pinkish, red, or orange/yellow (basically any color other than white) there has been water damage. I'd post pics but I'm a new user and I can't do so until I have the "required number of posts." Hey, filtered forum
Anyway, I don't know if there is a super genius out there who can disassemble the whole phone and magically get my 700+ photos out. I'm still asking around, though, because I think that someone could probably do it, just not me at this point in time. If I find anyone or read anything, I'll be sure to come back and pass it along.
For those of you who managed to save your phones - awesome! I don't know why in this day and age with technology being as advanced as it is they don't yet have a way to prevent a total write-off of a phone that can cost upwards $600 to replace just because it gets a bit of water in it. I understand water + electricity = BAD but c'mon already! Shatter-proof, water proof, wifi - is that too much to ask?
Good luck, everyone!