The problem is the same in both cases, though: Saltwater is pretty corrosive (significantly more so than fresh water). Neither gears nor circuit traces work well when they’ve been rusted away.
Humor. It is a difficult concept.
The most extreme example of this I’ve done was a Macintosh laptop that had a full large whatever dumped all over it at a Starbucks. I got the panicked call, told them to pull the battery immediately and had them bring it right over. Took it all apart and ran the various bits through a dishwasher, then spent several hours with compressed air and a hair drier getting it completely dry.
Put it together, and it’s working today.
Not quite as much luck with the laptop that had a bottle of nail polish remover on the keyboard. The computer worked, but the keyboard was a wreck. I advise parents to purchase the cheapest laptop possible for their teens, as they will inevitably break their first one. It’s like a first car, which should be a beater, as they are going to have some accident with it as part of the learning process.
After reading this post to figure out how to dry my phone out with rice, I read the post saying that they should make a phone that can be dropped in water and realize that 4 years after it was said here they have finally done it. check it out HERE.
Reported as spam.
I was just checking that this was the old thread I thought it was. It’s a good thing the original Spam was removed, but beowulff’s quote contains the original Spam with active link.
How is it spam? It’s a link to a news article on a new waterproof phone. Seems on topic to me.
I concur with Space Vegetable, it does seem to be ‘on topic’, and ‘new information’, to boot.
Well, new information to me, at least. 
I opened the post again and unbanned the poster. We acted in haste.
samclem, moderator
(bolding mine)
In all fairness, the post did seem kind of ‘spammy’ (commercial?), seeing as how waterproof phones have been on the market for quite a number of years now. 
Still, it was ‘new information’. The post linked to the first waterproof ‘smart phone’.
This is a very timely zombie. See today’s Zits.
My cellphone was in the pocket of some pants which got washed in a washing machine. I took the battery out and baked the phone and battery in an oven at low temperature (140F? 170F?) for 12 hours. Now it’s as good as it was before.