“Why don’t they make water proof cell phones?” While working as a technician for a major cell phone company for several years I heard that question over and over. The answer to the question is simple it is because people will not buy them! The manufacturers could and would make them if people would buy them.

The company I was working for had a water resistant unit, not water proof, just water resistant which for the most part is sufficient to prevent liquid damage. It was, in my estimation and in the estimation of all other technicians I spoke to about it, the best unit on the market at that time, bar none.

When electronic equipment is running it produces heat. Heat can cause a piece of electronic equipment to fail just as surely as water so that heat has to be removed. The heat from the components will radiate into the air heating the air. When a unit is sealed up so water can not get inside the air inside will also be trapped so it can not get outside and will continue to get warmer if there is no way to escape or that heat otherwise is not removed.

The public wants smaller and cuter cell phones. They want cell phones that play games, take pictures, surf the internet, send emails, give directions to your destination, text messages, tell you the time, and oh yes can be used to make phone calls. All this requires some very sophisticated and sensitive electronic components. In the 1960’s computers were housed in temperature and humidity controlled rooms. Modern cell phones have far more computer power then any of those computers had inside little plastic cases we can put in our pockets (which is not a good place to carry a cell phone).

If it was available what type of cell phone would I as a technician buy? It would be at least 4 inches long with an antenna at least 3.5 inches long. It would be completely enclosed by metal with sufficient heat sink* to dissipate the heat generated by the current used to operate the unit. The sub assemblies would all be shielded and the unit would be bolted together not just snapped together. Most people today would not even consider that unit because, by comparison to what is available, it would be heavy, bulky, ugly, and big but it would drop less calls, break down less, have improved range, and demonstrate other technical qualities beyond the scope of this article.

Don’t blame the manufactures. They are just producing what the public is demanding in an extremely competitive field.

* A heat sink is a device used to transfer heat from electronic components to the outside atmosphere,