Orientation and a mass blocking it I can understand and will accept as the price you pay for using something that is wireless.

It is more that you can't touch that very specific spot on the side because you end up detuning or shorting the antenna that is a little off. If this came up in testing then they should have coated the metal band with a non conductive material like a varnish or just designed a plastic band that goes around it. You'd get none of the signal issues and the aesthetics and size of the phone would be minimally impacted.

Originally Posted By: tfabris
It's interesting to note that some people are saying the unit has better reception than prior units in optimum conditions. I wonder if this is just a question of scale.

The antenna in a cell phone is generally tiny so the metal band is probably helping because its significantly larger. IANARE (I am not an RF engineer)