Well, it also helps with hand contour. And it makes it easy to identify the phone's orientation by touch.

And it encourages you to put the phone in your pocket the right way around... If you read the G1 user manual (yeah, yeah, I know), there is a curious passage advising you to keep the back of the phone 1.5 cm from the body.

I had that problem with the Ipod touch, it gets really hot, so with the right orientation you can avoid that (the G1 gets hot too).

That's in case the battery goes boom. The bend at the bottom is an absolute dealbreaker for me.

The pictures make it look a lot worse than it actually is.

I have a G1 and the bend isn't noticable unless you lay it flat on the table and look at it in profile.

+1 I don't mind it at all.