I needed a mobile phone badly and those days the models were quite costly, then, there was the option of R 220 which fitted my budget along with other features such as looks.
I had bought this mobile a year ago. For a few months it worked fine, then, the charging IC was damaged, though I had kept it for charging overnight and had forgotten about it.... but the user manual does not caution about any overcharging, so it was natural for me to think that ther might be some inherent protection.
then, another problem came up, which I have found in R 220s of two of my friends too. this problem is that the calling/called party hears a very feeble voice in spite of talking louldly into the mic.
Then, the signal strength inside the building is low, even though it has an external antenna.
Though these defects may be coincidental, and the fact that more good models are available without any ext antenna, it is worth noting in case some one is going for a new/second-hand model.