The video: Most smartphones are a drizzly day away from being rendered a paperweight, but that might soon change. One of the surprise stars of this year's Consumer Electronics Show is a water-resistant coating called Liquipel that keeps electronics working even when submerged in water — without the need for bulky waterproof casing. (Watch a demonstration below.) It works using an invisible nano-sized coating that keeps a phone's electronic bits from getting wet. The catch is you can't apply it yourself — you'll need to mail in your iPhone for a one-time application, and pay a $60 fee. "It may look like a hoax," says Christian Zibreg at 9to5Mac, but it's "the real deal."
The reaction: "No, I wouldn't take your iPhone SCUBA diving or anything," says Mike Keller at PC World. But this might save you an "embarrassing trip to the Apple Store," especially if you're accident prone. "Uhh… this is awesome," says Casey Chan at Gizmodo. And the stuff isn't limited to electronics. In a live demo, a tissue coated with Liquipel came out dry after being dunked in water. "It's so crazy it looks like the devil's work." Yep, "sorcery" sounds about right, says Jane Marie at The Hairpin. In any case, "feel free to drop your phone in the toilet now." See for yourself:
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