Okay, fair enough.


From the article you linked:
Maybe it's my interpretation, but a phone showing max bars and transferring data at 1500kbps is unlikely to be having a "weaker 3G signal". And it's still demonstrating a meatbag signal attenuation problem, as wrapping your hand around the bottom of the phone (admittedly a normal way to hold it) is the problem, not the presence of a single digit.

Again, there is a problem with every cell phone ever made that human bodies are good RF signal attenuators. This affects all models of the iPhone, the Nexus One, the Pre, etc. Again, every cell phone. It affects some phones more than others, frequently due to asinine antenna placement. I in no way disagree with this assessment. The iPhone may well actually be better in this regard. I can see how an external antenna might be a good solution to this problem.

But the issue with touching the spot is unlike any other cell phone problem description I've ever heard. You have watched videos of people demonstrating the problem, right? The one I linked is a good example. It is basically impossible to use the phone at all if touching it any less than in these demonstrations. I find it very hard to believe that the signal reception (or transmission, maybe) is concentrated in a single spot on the antenna. Assuming it's not, there's something else going on besides normal attenuation. And, if it really is concentrated there, then placing that single spot on one of the most easily obscured surfaces of the phone is an obvious design flaw of its own. There are any number of better spots. Between the two volume buttons, maybe. On the top or bottom of the phone. At the diametrically opposed corner, etc.