All this fuss over the perceived problem of the antenna, it reeks of premature optimization. Has anyone actually observed this being a problem while on a phone call? I'm not talking bars, since bars are a very loose indication of signal strength.
Phone calls generally work even with very bad reception. More important here is the data transfer over 3G which has been observed to slow down significantly. The "death grip" is exactly how you would hold the phone when browsing.
