Many thanks to the guys at Blue Ridge Wireless for some excellent points about cell phones that have been immersed in water:

'Wet phones are ecomonically beyond repair. All electrical circuits are suspect, need to be traced for shorts. Capacitors, internal batts store current & short boards, traces can delaminate, there can be a lack of circuit continuity...Our white paper is coming soon'

In short, you should no longer rely on a cell phone that has been soaked. The phone may fail at any given point without notice. You don't want to be stuck in an emergency situation with an unreliable cell phone!

Be sure to visit http://www.blueridgewireless.com/ for more information.