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March 08, 2022

Waterproof smartphones coming later this year: report

The toilet is the place for a lot of things – last night’s Taco Bell, for instance, or Roseanne Barr’s comedy career – but it’s not so your smartphone.

Still, the commode has claimed its share of handhelds, and in many cases no Ziploc bag full of rice can bring your contact list and photos back from the can.

Though Panasonic says, No more.

Indeed, not only does Panasonic apparently make smartphones, but they plan on unveiling a waterproof handheld later this year, too.

Recently at the Mobile World Congress, the Japanese tech giant unveiled its Eluga and Eluga Power smartphones, which run on the popular Android operating system.

*Bing: Can you really save a phone that’s been dropped in water?

The phones themselves aren’t enough to turn heads, but that they feature a long-awaited technology may be.

According to USA Today, the 8GB, full-HD phones are waterproof, protectively coated in the same way as Panasonic’s Toughbook line of rugged laptops.

You wouldn’t know the phones are waterproof – there’s no bulky case or foreign material overtop the device – which is sure to be a selling point for those in the game for the sleekest handhelds.

Panasonic says the phones are protected up to a depth of about one metre of water for 30 minutes, so it’s not so much a gadget you can swim with but one you can recover after it’s fumbled in the washroom.

USA Today reports the phone, which will first be sold in Europe this spring, will go for an iPhone-like $600, and should hit North American stores later in 2012.

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