Skip to main content

Nearly 1 in 5 people drop their smartphone in the toilet

smartphone-toilet
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Based off a new study from Plaxo, 19 percent of people drop their smartphone in the toilet and are forced to spend money on a costly replacement. Plaxo is in the business of protecting data as its service provides contact syncing across a variety of devices. This data corresponds with another study from Google that stated nearly four out of every ten people bring the phone into the bathroom for use. Of the 19 percent, more than half state that the biggest hassle in replacing a mobile phone is restoring the contact database.

smartphone-rice-waterThe study also stated that 66 percent of people use the same address book to store both workplace and personal contacts. When asked about the value of their contact lists, the minimum response was $500 while the maximum was “priceless”. Specific to people in the Generation Y category, thirty two percent of this demographic is likely to backup all contacts in the address book to cloud-based storage. Sixty five percent of Gen. Y are very comfortable with using online backups and twenty two percent are likely to own a tablet. Generation Y is also the most likely to pay for cloud service in regards to data backup and 24 percent consider it worth over $1,000.

With 25 percent of Americans preferring to browse the Internet with a smartphone instead of a PC, it’s no surprise that people are using smartphones more often and putting them at greater risk of accidents. Forty percent of the respondents expect to rely more on the cloud over the next two years. People that routinely backed up data from computers were far more likely to backup their phone data as well. Specific to smartphone owners, 72 percent routinely back up their data from the phone and 68 percent backed up data on home computers. For anyone that does drop a mobile phone into the toilet, placing the phone in dry rice is a popular home remedy. The rice soaks up the moisture inside the phone.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
You can pick up the Google Pixel 7 Pro for only $500 today
The Pixel 7 Pro with its display turned on, showing the home screen.

 

If you've been holding out on buying a new phone for a while because prices are still expensive, then you may want to consider going for one of the older flagship phones. For example, while the Pixel 8 Pro is out, the Pixel 7 Pro is still a powerful and viable alternative, and even better, it has quite a few great deals on it. In fact, you can buy a brand new and sealed Pixel 7 Pro from Woot for just $500, rather than the usual $1,100, and that's for the 512GB version of the phone, so you get a lot of storage with it as well.

Read more
A new Google Pixel Tablet is coming, but it’s not what you think
Google Pixel Tablet on its charging dock.

It's been almost a year since the Google Pixel Tablet went up for preorder, leading many Android tablet fans to wonder when the inevitable Pixel Tablet 2 will arrive. A new rumor suggests that Google could release a new Pixel Tablet as early as next month, but it's probably not what you were expecting or hoping for.

According to @MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter), Google is planning to "relaunch" the Pixel Tablet without the charging/speaker dock included in the box. As you'll likely recall, the speaker dock is the Pixel Tablet's standout feature. You can use the Pixel Tablet on its own as a traditional Android tablet when you want, and when you're done, you throw it on the dock to transform it into a smart display. The idea of Google selling the Pixel Tablet without its claim to fame is an interesting one.

Read more
Anker sale: up to 40% off portable chargers, cable, and more
The iPhone 15 Pro Max being charged by the Anker MagGo Power Bank.

If you've been looking to pick up a new charging cable, charger, or all-in-one charging station for your Android phone or iPhone, then you'll be happy to know that Anker is having a rather large Earth-Day sale that you can take advantage of. There are a ton of discounts that you can take advantage of, too, with up to 40% off in some cases. I that wasn't enough, you can even snag yourself some free gifts, for example, one of the best accessories for a Galaxy S24 is the Anker Nano Power Bank if you spend more than $90,  or even an Anker 621 Magnetic Battery if you spend over $120. Either way, there are a lot of options, and while we've shared some of our favorite deals below, it's also worth taking a look at everything Anker has to offer by pressing the button below.

What you should buy during Anker's Sale
One of the most basic things you may need for any device is a charging cable, and Anker has a couple of great options for that. If you're on an older iPhone with a lightning cable, you can grab Anker's Anker 641 USB-C to Lightning Cable that's 6 feet long using the coupon WSPEV2KENJP2. On the other hand, if you need a USB-C to connect and charge your devices, you can grab the 6-foot Anker 543 USB-C to USB-C Cable using the code WSPEV2EHDR0C.

Read more