Guest toyfreak Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 I got tired of dealing with a dodgy proximity sensor (Streak wouldn't always come back on when removed from my ear after completing a call) so I got a new one from Dell... Was refurbished but looked brand-new so all was good. Got the first one unlocked by AT&T; they assured me I could unlock this one as well. Then, only 3 days after getting my "new" Streak, it happened... My Streak came up missing. I hunted high and low for it, retraced my steps from the very busy day I misplaced it, etc... Did all the things one is supposed to do except didn't report it missing yet since I wanted to be able to maybe track it. Had a connection with a local detective but his police department didn't have the technology to do the tracking and AT&T wouldn't help, either. My last check-in on Google Latitude was 6 days stale so no help there. I called the phone several times over the course of the full day the battery lasted hoping if someone picked it up they would do the right thing and return it to no avail. All the while the phone was syncing with our Outlook Exchange server so I had hope it would turn up sooner or later. Then, the battery died and so did my hopes of being able to locate my Streak. Thinking it was now useless to whoever had it unless they got a charger and cable for it, I kept an eye on craigslist wondering what I would do if I met the person wanting to sell it back to me. The best I could tell I lost it around lunchtime on Wednesday Feb. 23. I ran several errands that day: 2 banks, a fast food lunch, a stop at home to let the dogs out, a trip to a gas station, on to Fry's Electronics on the other side of town... I called all these places and nobody had turned in anything resembling my phone. I deemed it lost and called a friend who runs one of the local AT&T shops to talk about a replacement. I have 5 lines and 4 were under contract so I made the decision to buy a Motorola Atrix 4G to replace the Streak and told him I might be in Friday evening to pick it up. In the meantime, a co-worker had an iPhone 3G (gasp!) I could borrow so the AT&T shop got a SIM card ready for me and I told them I would be in after work to pick it up. While all this was going on, central Indiana was hit by a nasty winter storm which started out as a mixture of rain, freezing rain and sleet which later turned to several inches of snow. This began Wednesday evening and lasted for a full day. I worked too late on Friday to make the trip to the AT&T shop so I went home, still without a phone. By this time the snow was half gone, haveing been melted by above-freezing temperatures and yet more rainfall. When I got home from work I did my usual first act upon entering the house: I let our 3 dogs out. We have a fenced-in back yard of about 50 by 60 feet in size. I often make the short trip from work to home during my lunch hour to let the dogs out and I sometimes spend a few minutes chasing them around the yard, good therapy for the four of us. The thought crossed my mind "I wonder if I could have left my phone out here?" I looked on the patio and patio furniture and saw nothing, then walked into the yard and looked down and there it was: my lost Streak, half covered in melting snow and mud lying face-up in its Otter Box commuter series case. Horrified, I snatched it up and retreated to the house where I pulled the battery and blotted it with a towel. It looked hopeless at this point. The device had been outside for over 2 days while powered on taking call after call from me and others while it rained, sleeted, snowed, and melted on it. For nearly 24 hours it was completely covered by about 3 inches of wet, heavy snow. The decal in the battery compartment had changed form pink to white as one would expect. I knew what to do from reading of others' predicaments like this but I still panicked and replaced the battery and cover and plugged it into the wall and booted it up. I was amazed to see my home screen and immediately powered it down, cursing myself for not continuing to dry it out like I knew I was supposed to do. I then removed the battery, SIM card, and micro-SD card and packed everything in uncooked rice in a small tupperware container overnight, hoping for the best... When I got up this morning and put everything together and booted it, it started up fine but I soon found out the home and menu capacitive buttons were inoperative so I re-packed everything in the rice and left it for a few more hours. The next time I booted it, all 3 buttons (as well as everything else) worked fine. I have since dismantled the Streak to the point of removing the motherboard from the back of the LCD (didn't do this because I was afraid I would break something) and I have blown out every nook and cranny with canned air and reassembled the unit. I even had the same type of 3M double-faced adhesive used to hold the shiny black plastic parts at each end of the LCD so they are replaced good as new. During the dismantling I even discovered another water-indicating decal, but this one (on the motherboard) was unaffected, which is completely astounding to me. Deep inside of the Streak looked good as new with no signs whatsoever of water being in it. I carefully examined the areas where water could have gotten in and found only a few traces of water intrusion with no real penetration. I have since put my Streak through its paces and I have not seen any problems whatsoever. I can only attribute this to the protection afforded by the Otter Box and the fact the unit was never submerged. Althout not waterprooof, the headphone jack and docking port were plugged by the case and the silicone rubber inner part of the case must have minimized water intrusion as the device was face-up to the elements only 20 feet away from one very thoroughly searched house. I kinow corrosion of internal components can occur after events like this so I am hoping for the best at this point wondering if problems will start cropping up if corrosion develops. I'm going to put it back in the rice overnight for a few days for good measure and keep my fingers crossed. After finding it I realized I dropped it during my Wednesday lunchtime romp with the dogs and it was covered by freezing rain and snow by the time I got home from work Wednesday night. Maybe it was in a coccoon of ice during the stay outside and I discovered it soon enough during the thaw to save it, who knows? For now, I'll keep enjoying my Streak and try to keep better track of it from now on! 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Guest rahulkadukar Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Rugged Streak :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LorD CLockaN Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 s*** man, thats lucky!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yid0 Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Lookout "Plan B" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brokenpixel Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Horrible story, excelent ending, now my question is... where you get the double side tape? :huh: Did you get any water marks on the screen? and pictures!!!! did you take any? we'd like to see a Streak running "SnowCone" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest superutp Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 my streak finds your story very motivating!!..:huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toyfreak Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Lookout "Plan B" Thanks for that link. I'm definitely going to install this or something like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toyfreak Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Horrible story, excelent ending, now my question is... where you get the double side tape? :huh: Did you get any water marks on the screen? and pictures!!!! did you take any? we'd like to see a Streak running "SnowCone" The tape is called 3M 468MP High Performance adhesive and we got it in 1/4" wide rolls. I would need to check the source tomorrow when I get back to work. We probably got it from McMaster-Carr. The adhesive at each end of the Streak is die-cut; I had to use several small pieces at each end instead. There are no water marks on or under the screen. The gorilla glass and LCD must be well bonded. I did not take photos. It was dark outside and when I found the Streak all I wanted to do was ge tit inside and try to resurrect it. Strange how I walked right to it, looked down and there it was. Lucky I didn't step on it, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest superutp Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 The tape is called 3M 468MP High Performance adhesive and we got it in 1/4" wide rolls. I would need to check the source tomorrow when I get back to work. We probably got it from McMaster-Carr. The adhesive at each end of the Streak is die-cut; I had to use several small pieces at each end instead. There are no water marks on or under the screen. The gorilla glass and LCD must be well bonded. I did not take photos. It was dark outside and when I found the Streak all I wanted to do was ge tit inside and try to resurrect it. Strange how I walked right to it, looked down and there it was. Lucky I didn't step on it, too. if you had stepped on the streak then you would have had another story to tell us..:huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brokenpixel Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for sharing the info, gonna look for the tape and see what I can find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toyfreak Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 Thanks for sharing the info, gonna look for the tape and see what I can find. Hang in there if you want to know exactly where we got it and I will try to find out. BTW posting from my Streak now... Takes a licking and keeps on ticking :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hans A. Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 wow. great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Prslicek Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 WOW, nice story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toyfreak Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 WOW, nice story Still going strong... Man, I'm lucky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toyfreak Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Still going strong... Man, I'm lucky! Still Streaking right along and not letting this thing out of my sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aweAMsome Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 OMG! delete this post please, who care! Let hope no one else post more of these craps story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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