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Cell Phone Cleaning Methods Put To The Test

BOSTON (CBS) - Our phones go with us everywhere and that means they get dirty.

So what's the best way to get rid of all those germs?

There are plenty of products that claim to do the job right.

First up, PhoneKleen wipes at $20 a box.

"They reduced the number of bacteria to an undetectable level," said University of Arizona Microbiology Professor Charles Gerba.

The CleanWell disinfectant spray says it kills 99.99-percent of germs for $8 a canister.

It came close. It cleaned 95.5-percent in this test.

"The spray solution seemed to eliminate the number of bacteria very readily from the surface," Gerba said.

How about the portable UV disinfector, which sells for $10?

It was able to reduce about 73-percent of the germs on the dirtiest phone of the whole bunch.

The more expensive Clean Wave sanitizing wand, which costs $40, completely eliminated any signs of germs.

"I was surprised that all of them seemed to work fairly well in reducing the number of germs on the phones," Gerba said.

But you have to be careful that good hygiene doesn't wreck your phone.

"You could accidentally get liquid inside the headphone jack, which would ruin your audio experience ' said Todd Hasleton, Writer, Executive Director of Mobile for TechnoBuffalo.

"Get liquid inside the speakers, inside the microphone, in which case nobody would be able to hear you on the phone, or you could get it inside of the charging port which could fry your electronic completely."

The bottom line - you don't need to spend a lot of money to clean your phone.

A simple microfiber cloth also got rid of all the bacteria in these tests.

Just make sure the cloth you're using is clean.

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