Reception with internal antenna?

My 2 years are up so I am getting a new phone. I have the Moto 385 now but want to get a phone without an external antenna. I looked at the V9 and liked it. A guy at the local store, however, said the reception on phones with internal antennas is not good once you get away from the cities. He said the LG 8300 would get better reception.

I am interested in what others think. TIA.

Allan

The guy at your store doesn't know anything about cell phones and reception. The external antenna on the 8300 by LG won't get any better reception than the internal antenna on the Razr V9m or your W385. No matter where you use it.

hummmm

i have the 8350 with internal antenna and it works great.

sometimes it only shows 1bar, but never ever drops. unlike nextel which when it had 1bar, you wouldnt even bother trying to dial lol

I read somewhere that the antenna on the 8300 while external, is very short. the battery cuts off how far into the phone it can go .. so dont think its some big giant antenna in there.

The guy at the store is full of it. That may have been the case years ago when technology wasn't quite there yet. However, most new phone models with an internal antenna work just fine. My past 5 phones have been internal and I have not had any problems with reception, if anything it has been better from my earlier phones that had external antennas.

Here's another thought... there are no new models of phones being released with antennas that I am aware of. If external antennas are so good, why have manufacturers gone away from them?

I'd agree with you on that. I haven't seen a new phone with an external antenna released in the past 6 months or so. However, I really only pay attention to smartphones and pocket pcs so I am not sure about the other models.