We went to the beach today. Fool that I am, my Motorola RAZR managed to get salt water in it. After drying out, the phone is now making calls and such, but the screen is dead. No backlight and (apparently) nothing on the LCD.

Amusement: there's a red dot on the battery and on the case inside the battery. Neither was originally red. I'm guessing these are the "you weren't expecting your warranty to cover water damage, were you?" detectors.

So... looks like I need a new RAZR. Right now, I'm looking at extracting all the phone numbers that exist only inside the phone. We've been with Cingular forever and are presently on month-to-month. What's the best/cheapest way to replace my RAZR? I don't want to drop serious change or sign up for another two year contract until the new Apple iPhone is out. Any advice?

Aren't razrs about $80 on ebay? I looked at selling one and decided to keep it seemed like a quad band unlocked phone was worth having on hand. I certainly wouldn't renew a 2 year contract for $80.

Matthew

Unlocked RAZRs seem to be clocking in $130 or more. New ones, at least according to Froogle, are more like $200. I'm suspicious of buying a used/abused phone on eBay, but this may be the right time to do it. Thoughts? Maybe I should look at something else? All I know is that I'm 99% likely to go with the iPhone when it comes out, so I don't want to blow very much money right now.

Would you be willing to send the broken one to me? For a reasonable price, of course. I have one that got wet and it won't accept the battery anymore. I think it has other symptoms, too.

Thoughts?

Oh yeah, which provider?

The kicker: if you buy a new RAZR v3 from Amazon with a contract, you actually come out $100 ahead after the rebates are over. The temptation is to call up Cingular and try to squeeze a freebie out of them. Hmm...

So, like, take it apart and clean it up. No guarantees, but you can hardly make it worse. And many of us have had good success cleaning up wet electronics in the past. Even with phones.

Cheers!

You are completely right about the red dots being water damage warranty voiders.

My new job has me dealing with a office full of blackberries.