A promotional photo for the WaterBlock process from HzO.
LAS VEGAS — The most astonishing products here at the International Consumer Electronics Show are often the ones you can’t buy yet, like a process called WaterBlock from the company HzO. In a demonstration, an iPod with the WaterBlock treatment — not enclosed in any kind of case or covering — was dropped in a fish tank while playing, and it played on undisturbed … for hours.
WaterBlock is a coating applied directly to the parts of electronic devices — the innards, not the case — that makes them impervious to water damage. So instead of trying to protect electronics by keeping water out, it protects them by making the water that gets in harmless. You would need an advanced degree to understand quite how it does what it does, but watching it at work is impressive.
To apply the coating, a gadget has to be dismantled, and any areas to remain untreated (like the screen and electrical contacts) have to be masked off. Then the parts are put in a vacuum chamber where the coating is introduced as a vapor.
It would be prohibitively expensive to treat individual phones. So consumers can’t get their own stuff WaterBlocked. But if it were applied to electronic parts in the manufacturing process before a phone was assembled, the expense would be “less than the cost of a inexpensive pair of earbuds,” said Rick Peterson, marketing director for HzO.
The product is still being tested, Mr. Peterson said. It has worked successfully at a depth of one meter, but the company has not yet found a limit to how long a device can stay submerged.
Whether this intriguing technology will surface on your electronics anytime soon is anybody’s guess.