What is a cell phone’s worst enemy? No, not another newer phone, water. Just a little sprinkle of water is sometimes all it takes to render your phone completely useless. What if there was a simple fix that the manufacturer doesn’t want you to know about? Nothing like that could possibly exist, right?

If you have an LG phone with a battery similar to the one pictured above, you might just be in luck. Do you see those two round contacts in the middle? Those are generally covered by a small piece of material. If that material becomes wet it changes color, and your battery will stop working, thus rendering your phone useless.

How do you fix something like this? Don’t bother taking it back to the store, they’ll take one look and tell you that it’s toast. All you need to do is carefully remove the piece of material and replace it with a blank piece of paper. Pop that baby back into your phone and you’re in business. Apparently when the original material becomes wet it completes the circuit and your battery knows to stop working.

The manufacturer would argue that this is a safety feature that prevents your battery from exploding. While this may be true, it’s also a simple reason for the store to sell you a new phone.

Cellphone Battery Designed To Fail At First Drop Of Water? [via consumerist]