[MrHawaii]

I believe the holes are for audio purposes. HTC is incorporating a feature called Straight Talk™ which is said to make the phone a professional quality spearker phone, great for conference calls. It is incorporated by two sets of speakers and two mics. This is activated by placing the phone face down. The button I believe may not be a button at all but is actually a picture just stating where the second mic is which is used to be a noise cancelling mic or is a button to simply mute/unmute your mic, again useful when using it for a conference call. Here is a link and quote from the world wide version of the device from the HTC site, but I am sure most of the features will be the same for the Sprint version. (My personal preference is that it looks ok if it functions the way it is said to function.)

Straight Talk™

"HTC’s Straight Talk makes communication more natural, intuitive and effective. It is a way to seamlessly transit from email to a single or multi-party calls as well as a flawless means to complete conference bridge calls. The innovation is completed by dual microphone and speakers that turn your mobile into a professional quality speakerphone by the simple action of placing your phone face down on the table."

http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro2/overview.html