Possible Water Damage To Phone

[Mike00709]

Hi my name is Mike. I have had my ZTE Blade Spark phone since 2017. Recently, I believe it got wet accidentally on the earpiece. Not a lot just a few drops. Afterwards I made a phone call and sounded very distorted. Same thing for my speakers while watching a youtube video, distorted as well. This was roughly 4 or 5 days ago. I had to factory reset it as well because of the freezing of the screen. Today this is how it is. On YouTube the sound is really good but not perfect. Calls I can hear exactly what the other person is saying and reply as well they can hear me. It's just more static than usual. Charging is fine no issues with that, and my brother checked battery strip to see if it was damaged and said it wasn't. So if you guys got any help or ideas or want me to explain part of it reply. Thank You.

 

[ocnbrze]

you should have turned the phone off, put the phone in a ziplock bag with some rice and leave that way overnight.

but now it is too late. its most likely a hardware issue. at this point you have two options.....either deal with it or get a new phone. you can try and get it fixed, but the price would cost more than if you were to get a new phone.

 

[puppykickr]

A phone of that age, I would just deal with it at this point.

It should have been turned off, and disassembled if possible to dry.
The rice is a nice touch as well.

Phone batteries are designed to last 2-4 years, so this device has been on its last legs for a while.

 

[Hadron]

If the earpiece got wet, which often acts as a speaker as well, and the phone has no designed-in water resistance it could be that the water damaged the earpiece membrane. That would have been worst while the membrane was actually wet (it would be softer), but could have left a lasting effect after drying - especially if you used it at high volume when wet (early water-resistant handsets would limit the volume when they detected water exposure to reduce the risk of damage to the speakers).

From what you describe that's my best guess anyway - obviously impossible to know for sure from here.