A Warning to ALL GALAXY S4 ACTIVE USERS!!!!

daledenton · Jul 29, 2013

This phone is not truly waterproof/resistant!!!!!

First off I want to start this off buy saying a few things. I work for AT&T so before anyone says its from improper usage remember I had to watch training videos on how to properly use it. Also, before anyone says well, you aren't really supposed to be using it in the water, you are wrong. The first thing we are trained on is how to properly close the back cover and how to show the customers Aqua mode to take pictures underwater. We actively use this as a main selling point, this is per Samsung.

Here is my story. I bought the Active on Thursday. The first thing I did with it was ensure the back was closed and made a video in my fish tank so I could show customers how it works underwater, and how good aqua mode is. That worked out perfectly except the video was a little dark, so I figured I would retake it.

In this time I had a customer swap out the phone they bought because it were defective, the bottom buttons stopped working on it. She was very vague when the water question came up but I thought nothing of it.

Now cue today. It was sunny outside so I thought it was the perfect time to reshoot the fish tank video. I ensured the back was secure, yes, including pressing down on the back where the AT&T logo is. I then submerged the phone in the tank while taking the video. Almost instantly the phone screen went black and said dock mode was enabled so I took the phone out of the water and everything went back to normal. I double checked the USB rubber to be sure. I just chalked it up to the phone doing crazy things in the water. I have read almost everywhere that the phone will say headphones are plugged in, etc. So I thought this was normal. I then put it back in and took a minute long video. Everything was fine. I even played back the video and it was fully working.

This is where everything went wrong. About 2 minutes later the phone started tweaking out, Google now opened on its own and the buttons were really sensitive. Then the buttons completely stopped working other than the power button and that's when I freaked out. I opened the battery cover and there it was, everything was soaked. but luckily none of the water damage indicators were colored. I then opened the USB door and it was like a fountain, so that's where the breach happened. The flimsy, rubber USB door. I did not tell a soul what happened and went back to work and swapped it for a regular Galaxy S4.

So please listen to my warning. There are way too many people getting this phone damaged, including me, a fully trained AT&T employee who took the proper precautions before doing anything.

Samsung should not be able to get away with calling this phone water resistant or water proof, and they should especially not include an Aqua Camera mode.

Also the warranty DOES NOT, I REPEAT, DOES NOT COVER WATER!!!!

starxgamingx · Jul 29, 2013

I think it depends really, i understand where you are coming from, and you shouldnt trust it, but my friend was pushed in the pool with his and it survived without a issue

Blue Reaper · Jul 29, 2013

I've kept mine in my pocket and went for a swim in the pool. Worked fine after wiping it with a towel. You might have had a defective unit...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk 2

thatbigmoose · Jul 29, 2013

As an AT&T employee maybe you'll know the procedure for this..

I've read all the horror stories relating to the S4A, and there's been a few of them.. Is the fact that the device seems to fail often enough of a reason to exchange for a regular S4? I'm not within my 14 days anymore :/.I opted for this over S4 just because of the water resistance.

daledenton · Jul 29, 2013

starxgamingx said:
I think it depends really, i understand where you are coming from, and you shouldnt trust it, but my friend was pushed in the pool with his and it survived without a issue

And I understand that I may have a defective unit, but I have read 3 separate reviews where the reviewer damaged their first phone. There is also a thread on XDA where a bunch of people state that they damaged their phone. This in itself either says that the phone doesn't work as advertised or there are way too many defective units out there for anyone to be safe to try the water and Samsung needs to know this.

starxgamingx · Jul 29, 2013

daledenton said:
And I understand that I may have a defective unit, but I have read 3 separate reviews where the reviewer damaged their first phone. There is also a thread on XDA where a bunch of people state that they damaged their phone. This in itself either says that the phone doesn't work as advertised or there are way too many defective units out there for anyone to be safe to try the water and Samsung needs to know this.

Maybe its the other way around and my friend got a defective one thats actually waterproof

Blackwolf10 · Jul 29, 2013

now i fell terribly sorry for who went with those ugly buttons instead of S4

Kyuta Syuko · Jul 29, 2013

Blackwolf10 said:
now i fell terribly sorry for who went with those ugly buttons instead of S4

Eh... I like the buttons...

scott14719 · Jul 29, 2013

The bottom line is that Samsung doesn't warranty the phone against water damage and therefor should Never sell it as such. If they can not stand behind an advertised function of their own product, they should not sell it. It doesn't matter if people abuse the phone in water or exceed the recommended specs (depth and length of time in water) because there is no way they can differentiate between people that stay within the specs and those that don't.

toxicpaulution · Jul 29, 2013

All I gotta say is the best way to get away with saying it is water resistance/proof would be making it like the Nexus 4 and no removable back. Make it wireless charging. Come with a wireless charger. Sd card slot and sim slot on the top or sides. Make it completely blocked off with no ports but a headphone hack the way they did making it water proof. That's the only way they can be certain its water resistant. Otherwise you have these issues.

Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

jt3 · Jul 29, 2013

Yeah, I have a feeling all of these water-related failures are going to kill the S4A early. Eventually, the threat of a class action lawsuit will cause them to trigger an EOL.

I suspect this will happen sooner rather than later, since showing it dunked in water in all the commercials, but not covering water damage is just screaming "class action."

My crystal ball says that within a year, you'll see AT&T (at least) offering to waive ETF for owners of S4A units damaged by water. This may be under the terms of a Class Action, or to avoid one... but in the end, that will probably be the end of the S4A story.

joshuadjohnson22 · Jul 29, 2013

daledenton said:
This phone is not truly waterproof/resistant!!!!!

First off I want to start this off buy saying a few things. I work for AT&T so before anyone says its from improper usage remember I had to watch training videos on how to properly use it. Also, before anyone says well, you aren't really supposed to be using it in the water, you are wrong. The first thing we are trained on is how to properly close the back cover and how to show the customers Aqua mode to take pictures underwater. We actively use this as a main selling point, this is per Samsung.

Here is my story. I bought the Active on Thursday. The first thing I did with it was ensure the back was closed and made a video in my fish tank so I could show customers how it works underwater, and how good aqua mode is. That worked out perfectly except the video was a little dark, so I figured I would retake it.

In this time I had a customer swap out the phone they bought because it were defective, the bottom buttons stopped working on it. She was very vague when the water question came up but I thought nothing of it.

Now cue today. It was sunny outside so I thought it was the perfect time to reshoot the fish tank video. I ensured the back was secure, yes, including pressing down on the back where the AT&T logo is. I then submerged the phone in the tank while taking the video. Almost instantly the phone screen went black and said dock mode was enabled so I took the phone out of the water and everything went back to normal. I double checked the USB rubber to be sure. I just chalked it up to the phone doing crazy things in the water. I have read almost everywhere that the phone will say headphones are plugged in, etc. So I thought this was normal. I then put it back in and took a minute long video. Everything was fine. I even played back the video and it was fully working.

This is where everything went wrong. About 2 minutes later the phone started tweaking out, Google now opened on its own and the buttons were really sensitive. Then the buttons completely stopped working other than the power button and that's when I freaked out. I opened the battery cover and there it was, everything was soaked. but luckily none of the water damage indicators were colored. I then opened the USB door and it was like a fountain, so that's where the breach happened. The flimsy, rubber USB door. I did not tell a soul what happened and went back to work and swapped it for a regular Galaxy S4.

So please listen to my warning. There are way too many people getting this phone damaged, including me, a fully trained AT&T employee who took the proper precautions before doing anything.

Samsung should not be able to get away with calling this phone water resistant or water proof, and they should especially not include an Aqua Camera mode.

Also the warranty DOES NOT, I REPEAT, DOES NOT COVER WATER!!!!

A simple solution to find out if your phone is waterproof... Turn the phone off and remove the battery, then close everything and put it in water for a few minutes. Take the phone out of the water and check to see if water got in the charging port and/or past the seal on the back. If it did get water in the device put your phone in rice for a day and return it for a working unit. If you didn't you should be fine.

If no power is going to your device it cannot short circuit. After the water is gone you can turn it on with no issues

jt3 said:
Yeah, I have a feeling all of these water-related failures are going to kill the S4A early. Eventually, the threat of a class action lawsuit will cause them to trigger an EOL.

I suspect this will happen sooner rather than later, since showing it dunked in water in all the commercials, but not covering water damage is just screaming "class action."

My crystal ball says that within a year, you'll see AT&T (at least) offering to waive ETF for owners of S4A units damaged by water. This may be under the terms of a Class Action, or to avoid one... but in the end, that will probably be the end of the S4A story.

Or maybe a recall?

Muhammad.Muayad · Jul 29, 2013

Blackwolf10 said:
now i fell terribly sorry for who went with those ugly buttons instead of S4

as an owner of Galaxy S2, S3, Nexus and HTC One i have to say then Samsung products are inferior to any other manufacture,
HTC is NOT as important manufacture as Samsung but their devices are way better that Samsungs

as for water proofing Galaxy S4 Active was a clear copy of Xperia Z, since Samsung could NOT make every GS4 waterproof like SONY they made another phone and judging by experience SONY clearly made the better waterproofing,

i was in the swimming pool that day and there was Xperia Z's on the bottom of the pool (~1 to 2 meters) with NO damage,

---------- Post added at 05:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:07 PM ----------

joshuadjohnson22 said:
A simple solution to find out if your phone is waterproof... Turn the phone off and remove the battery, then close everything and put it in water for a few minutes. Take the phone out of the water and check to see if water got in the charging port and/or past the seal on the back. If it did get water in the device put your phone in rice for a day and return it for a working unit. If you didn't you should be fine.

If no power is going to your device it cannot short circuit. After the water is gone you can turn it on with no issues

Or maybe a recall?

"If no power is going to your device it cannot short circuit"

every phone has a small battery on its PCB to keep time and date if your battery drained or removed.
so a short circuit is a possibility.

joshuadjohnson22 · Jul 29, 2013

Muhammad.Muayad said:
as an owner of Galaxy S2, S3, Nexus and HTC One i have to say then Samsung products are inferior to any other manufacture,
HTC is NOT as important manufacture as Samsung but their devices are way better that Samsungs

as for water proofing Galaxy S4 Active was a clear copy of Xperia Z, since Samsung could NOT make every GS4 waterproof like SONY they made another phone and judging by experience SONY clearly made the better waterproofing,

i was in the swimming pool that day and there was Xperia Z's on the bottom of the pool (~1 to 2 meters) with NO damage,

---------- Post added at 05:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:07 PM ----------

"If no power is going to your device it cannot short circuit"

every phone has a small battery on its PCB to keep time and date if your battery drained or removed.
so a short circuit is a possibility.

hmmm ok, never heard of that

Either way when I tried the method I posted no water got in. Still don't think I will put it in water while it is turned on

jesi · Jul 29, 2013

My first shot in water:
lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uF_HK-cQ5z0/Ue6J9C7REAI/AAAAAAAA0qQ/JCQFdoDu13U/s512/20130723_164222.jpg

(from kayak, i did keep phone in hand and lower it about 10cm deep in water)

After that pic, noticed water in display, rear camera, front camera, some buttons did not work, etc etc nice.

Rear cam:
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mrqiqTMzr_g/Ue6gKop2DlI/AAAAAAAA0tE/upYGQ_7dNW0/s512/20130723_182343.jpg

Front cam:
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UxFnzttB8CE/Ue7CqjautfI/AAAAAAAA0vU/cpK5ekAPZGo/s512/20130723_205132.jpg
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hRvVQXcYqG4/Ue7x3qZSg7I/AAAAAAAA0xI/p4LqZri94bs/s512/IMG_20130723_234953.jpg

Display:
lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wBqoctoGIlg/Ue7x1BM3-CI/AAAAAAAA0w8/il7jeX2rodk/s640/IMG_20130723_234922.jpg

And yes, usb cover was sealed and also battery cover.

I went to local service point in last week, today they called to pick my device up:
lh4.googleusercontent.com/-w-LRCCJJHYM/UfZhBjNfcFI/AAAAAAAA1Dk/W70ZmxcePhA/s512/IMG_20130729_153151.jpg

Battery is old, everything else is new.

edit: btw, sorry for links, add h t t p : / /

joshuadjohnson22 · Jul 29, 2013

jesi said:
My first shot in water:
lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uF_HK-cQ5z0/Ue6J9C7REAI/AAAAAAAA0qQ/JCQFdoDu13U/s512/20130723_164222.jpg

(from kayak, i did keep phone in hand and lower it about 10cm deep in water)

After that pic, noticed water in display, rear camera, front camera, some buttons did not work, etc etc nice.

Rear cam:
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mrqiqTMzr_g/Ue6gKop2DlI/AAAAAAAA0tE/upYGQ_7dNW0/s512/20130723_182343.jpg

Front cam:
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UxFnzttB8CE/Ue7CqjautfI/AAAAAAAA0vU/cpK5ekAPZGo/s512/20130723_205132.jpg
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hRvVQXcYqG4/Ue7x3qZSg7I/AAAAAAAA0xI/p4LqZri94bs/s512/IMG_20130723_234953.jpg

Display:
lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wBqoctoGIlg/Ue7x1BM3-CI/AAAAAAAA0w8/il7jeX2rodk/s640/IMG_20130723_234922.jpg

And yes, usb cover was sealed and also battery cover.

I went to local service point in last week, today they called to pick my device up:
lh4.googleusercontent.com/-w-LRCCJJHYM/UfZhBjNfcFI/AAAAAAAA1Dk/W70ZmxcePhA/s512/IMG_20130729_153151.jpg

Battery is old, everything else is new.

I'm guessing this was not AT&T? The sticker on the screen is different

jesi · Jul 29, 2013

joshuadjohnson22 said:
I'm guessing this was not AT&T? The sticker on the screen is different

Yep, no AT&T.

jt3 · Jul 29, 2013

joshuadjohnson22 said:
Or maybe a recall?

Remember, most people with this phone have entered into a 2-year contract. Simply recalling the phone wouldn't work. They'd either have to replace it with an equivalent model or waive the ETF. The problem with the former is that they've advertised the heck out of its water resistance, selling it as "everything proof." If they were to, say, replace it with a standard S4, the consumer would have a very real argument that it's not an equivalent model, which would be ANOTHER basis for a class action.

Also, remember, recalls are done by a manufacturer. AT&T isn't going to recall a Samsung device. Samsung would have to do that. A recall would only really work if Samsung offered another phone (like an S4), AND made a deal with AT&T, compensating them to waive the ETF if the consumer didn't want that phone. This may happen, but before it does, the remaining stock would be pulled from the shelves, and the phone would be EOL.

Again, I think that marketing this phone as waterproof, but not standing behind that marketing, is eventually going to lead to a class action. A class action, or the threat of one, will result in an early death for this device. I agree with what was said before though... I don't think we'll be seeing many more phones claiming water resistance. Those that do, will be sealed, and certainly won't have removable backs.

joshuadjohnson22 · Jul 29, 2013

jt3 said:
Remember, most people with this phone have entered into a 2-year contract. Simply recalling the phone wouldn't work. They'd either have to replace it with an equivalent model or waive the ETF. The problem with the former is that they've advertised the heck out of its water resistance, selling it as "everything proof." If they were to, say, replace it with a standard S4, the consumer would have a very real argument that it's not an equivalent model, which would be ANOTHER basis for a class action.

Also, remember, recalls are done by a manufacturer. AT&T isn't going to recall a Samsung device. Samsung would have to do that. A recall would only really work if Samsung offered another phone (like an S4), AND made a deal with AT&T, compensating them to waive the ETF if the consumer didn't want that phone. This may happen, but before it does, the remaining stock would be pulled from the shelves, and the phone would be EOL.

Again, I think that marketing this phone as waterproof, but not standing behind that marketing, is eventually going to lead to a class action. A class action, or the threat of one, will result in an early death for this device. I agree with what was said before though... I don't think we'll be seeing many more phones claiming water resistance. Those that do, will be sealed, and certainly won't have removable backs.

Yeah... saying a phone is "everything proof" and water proof is pretty stupid.. Honestly I think AT&T and Samsung could fix this in my mind just by warranty replacing water damaged S4 Actives. If they replace them in the event of water damage then we all will be happy. It doesn't happen to every unit, most users are fine in the water, but still a high percentage.

I for one love my active and the water proof was just a bonus, but I wouldn't mind them giving me my upgrade back

fahadsul3man · Jul 29, 2013

joshuadjohnson22 said:
Yeah... saying a phone is "everything proof" and water proof is pretty stupid.. Honestly I think AT&T and Samsung could fix this in my mind just by warranty replacing water damaged S4 Actives. If they replace them in the event of water damage then we all will be happy. It doesn't happen to every unit, most users are fine in the water, but still a high percentage.

I for one love my active and the water proof was just a bonus, but I wouldn't mind them giving me my upgrade back

"water-resistant.” As Samsung points out in the device’s manual, the S4 Active is rated IP67, which means that it’s resistant to water only up to depths of a little over three feet , its not water proof .

A Warning to ALL GALAXY S4 ACTIVE USERS!!!!

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