Weird, but I can't tell at all what your opinion on this is, Tom. Am I right in summarizing that you think all phones have this problem, yet the iPhone 4 has it particularly badly and in one single spot that significantly affects it?

I just think it's a bad design.

And I watched that video in the article you linked about the Nexus One reception problems. I attempted to replicate the experiment, but I don't think I have anything on my phone to get the proper information. Do any Android owners know what app would show me current signal strength?

As is, I could only test with the Speedtest.net app. With my phone covered up as completely as possible with my hands (more so than the guy in the video), I simply couldn't get it to alter the speed test results. It appeared that I would occasionally lose one bar, but then it would come back while still covered.

Of course, I'm probably not in a good place to test this. I'll try it when I'm out and about tomorrow, and not when I'm in my house, where I can see a tower from my front door...