The New Waterproof Smartphone

By Barbara E. Hernandez

| Tuesday, Jan 17, 2012 | Updated 1:21 PM PDT

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HZO

Everyone knows that once your phone is dunked underwater it becomes an expensive paperweight. Despite all its processing ability and design, smartphones and liquid just don't seem to mix.

But that was before HZO, a new technology that creates "a nano-scale film barrier" that repels water if applied to the inside of gadgets, according to Pocket-lint. The website goes on to say that it witnessed HZO dunking several devices, including the iPhone and other smartphones from Samsung and Motorola, into a fish tank of water at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (You can also watch a video of a man dunking about a dozen iPods underwater.)

The company also hinted that it was in talks with a "major smartphone partner" in the near future.

We showed the Samsung Chairman the technology with a Samsung Galaxy S that we had coated with HZO and he couldn't believe his eyes," a representative of the company told us. "Samsung is really excited by the tech."

HZO said it had also been talking to Apple, too, and hoping for a partnership to make the iPhone 5 waterproof.

Many people are paying $199 for a smartphone, so it's not much to ask that it still works if dropped in the sink or a puddle. As long as HZO has a cheap and safe technology to make smartphones safe from water and spilled drinks, why shouldn't manufacturers use the company?