Hello, this is the first time i write in the page and actually i just started reading it a few days ago, i want to thank all the developers and community that help new people like me in all they can, so i wanted to share my experience and i hope i can help someone too. I live in Mexico, and since i have some free time this month and i've never have an smartphone, i decided to buy a Ebay faulty one (i can't really afford a new one here, they're twice the price than USA). I have some hardware knowlege but all the android software is new for me. I bought 3 phones i found at a very low price and started to read about all the android world. 2 of the phones were this wonderful phone, the Captivate and the thrid one was the Motorola Atrix 4g.
I decided to start with the captivates, but after a few days i manage to root, unlock and update one of those to kitkat. The other was a 2.2 froyo and i worked on it 2 days more until reach the same of the other. I found that this captivate has the wifi low signal problem and an intermittent cell signal. I finally fixed both problems and here is how i did it, i hope it can help somene:
Cellphone Signal
I think this phone was used with an external antenna, because using the "needle method" on the plug, the signal was working again. I decided to make a more solid solution by soldering a very thin wire between the side terminals of the plug (left with the right). That makes the function of the needle inside the antenna plug but more trustful.
Wi-Fi Low Signal
The first captivate works great without any fixes, but the second i bought can't stay more than 5 meters away frome router or it loss all signal.
When i fixed the antenna i notice all the copper contacts on the circuit board that touch small pieces of aluminium on the inner side of the case. The aluminium has some corrotion (i bought the phone as "water damaged"). I cleaned all the contacts and the aluminium on the case but there's a contact at the left side of the camera that hardly touches the aluminium, so i used the foil paper method of other devices to improve signal on that specific point and worked great, now i can go freely in all the house with 2 to 3 bars of wifi.
I haven't test gps since i dont know how my service provider company uses it, but if anyone can and want to tell me, i would be so grateful.
I decided to start with the captivates, but after a few days i manage to root, unlock and update one of those to kitkat. The other was a 2.2 froyo and i worked on it 2 days more until reach the same of the other. I found that this captivate has the wifi low signal problem and an intermittent cell signal. I finally fixed both problems and here is how i did it, i hope it can help somene:
Cellphone Signal
I think this phone was used with an external antenna, because using the "needle method" on the plug, the signal was working again. I decided to make a more solid solution by soldering a very thin wire between the side terminals of the plug (left with the right). That makes the function of the needle inside the antenna plug but more trustful.
Wi-Fi Low Signal
The first captivate works great without any fixes, but the second i bought can't stay more than 5 meters away frome router or it loss all signal.
When i fixed the antenna i notice all the copper contacts on the circuit board that touch small pieces of aluminium on the inner side of the case. The aluminium has some corrotion (i bought the phone as "water damaged"). I cleaned all the contacts and the aluminium on the case but there's a contact at the left side of the camera that hardly touches the aluminium, so i used the foil paper method of other devices to improve signal on that specific point and worked great, now i can go freely in all the house with 2 to 3 bars of wifi.
I haven't test gps since i dont know how my service provider company uses it, but if anyone can and want to tell me, i would be so grateful.
