I am currious to know FoxKat are you familiar with conformal coating? The motherboard in these phones is covered with this you might find it useful to educate your self on what that is before responding to threads like this in the future. Have a nice day.
Ag3nt X, I respect what you are suggesting, and rather than get upset about the jab, I'm going to expand upon it.
Conformal Coating is simply term used to describe a coating process that conforms to unusual shapes, with the concept that when used on PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), it will "conform" to all the nooks and crannies between, under and around the various board components. Where your implication that I was either ignorant of (a lack of understanding), or was simply ignoring (either forgetting or simply choosing to ignore), the fact that the PCB (and all other internal surfaces of the Droid RAZR/MAXX), is coated with a Conformal Coating fell short, is that any one of countless compounds can be used to coat the surfaces, and they can be applied in a number of ways, with each compound and method of application having its pros and cons.
There is hot dipping, where the compounds are heated to a viscous temperature and then the apparatus (circuit board) is dipped into the liquid compound. This works well for the PCBs themselves, but won't work well for an entire completed phone. Also, depending on the melting temperature of the compound, it can potentially be too high resulting in actual damage.
There is also solvent dipping where the compounds are diluted in a evaporation solvent, however since the solvent can also do damage to the surface it's being applied to - specifically plastics and polymers, its application benefits are limited.
There's spray application, which while it may work OK for flat surfaces, it doesn't find its way into the smaller crevices, and so works best for things like Glass (Hydrophobic - water repelling
), exterior paints (Omniphobic - dirt repelling), floors (Oleophobic - oil repelling), etc. It is also less uniform and results in lots of waste and cost.
There's brush application which takes on most of the properties of spray application but provides even less protection for cracks and crevices, and also tends to use even more compound through uneven application and waste so cost and weight can be higher.
Then there's Vacuum Deposition coating, where the device is placed into a near 100% vacuum and then the compound is atomized and sprayed into the container to bring the pressure back to ambient room pressure. As a result, the atomized fluid or solid adheres to any surface that was previously exposed to the air, essentially replacing the air at the surface with a nano coating of the compound. This results in the most complete and uniform application, and can be extremely carefully monitored for thickness of application. Too thick and it adds unnecessary weight and cost, too thin and it loses its effectiveness.
Then there's the issue of what compound. Some as mentioned above are great at repelling one potential offender, but are not so good at others. Mixes of various compounds can bridge the gap somewhat to provide protection for various substances, but at reduced effectiveness of any one. Same holds true regarding surface being applied to, so where some compounds will adhere well to one type of surface, they may not retain their qualities when applied to another. Also, weather, sun (UV Radiation), heat (expansion and contraction such as are in electronics - which can result in the coatings being compromised), solvents, alkalines, acids, abrasives, etc., all play a role in deciding what solutions are applied and what protection they are to afford.
In a circuit board we also have the issue of electricity and the need for any coating to have an extremely high electrical conductivity resistance (insulating benefit). If the coating even slightly increases conductivity, it may still protect the circuit from water for instance, but can be one giant short across all contacts at the same time. THIS is why I mentioned SALT. Water by itself, the chemical compound H2O is an insulator, meaning it does not conduct electricity. It's the impurities in water that turn it into a conductor.
When salts are disolved in water, the water becomes an electrolyte. This allows electric current to flow. The salts separate into different electrically charged atoms called ions. Salt, or Sodium Chloride (NaCl), breaks up into positive Na ions and negative Cl ions. Since any conduction of electricity outside of the circuit itself, the pathways intended for electrons will disrupt the operation of the device, it can cause currents to flow in excess of what various components can safely handle, potentially resulting in permanent damage and failure of the component(s).
Salt is also a catalyst in corrosion. Salt causes Oxidation-reduction reactions, which creates corrosion. Any electric current applied to that Oxidation-reduction reaction speeds up the corrosion (ever see the top of a car battery's terminals?) Copper (the main conductor in these PCBs is very susceptible to corrosion or Oxidation (the Green color you see on copper water pipes or copper roofs on buildings for example). Corrosion in these devices can burn traces off the board in mere hours, permanently disrupting the flow of current and destroying the device.
Finally, since the application of a chemical compound in water with electricity present can alter the chemical properties of substances it comes in contact with (insert Conformal Coating here), it can result in a breakdown of the desirable properties and leave you with a complete failure of its intended purpose. The nano coating inside these phones MAY be WATER RESISTANT (or as Motorola says "Splash Resistant"), however nowhere does it say that it is either Saltwater Resistant or resistant of any other compound or chemical.
So in closing, before you intend to question someone's knowledge about a subject and try to discredit them, do your own research.
