HELSINKI, Finland – Two floors below ground level at Nokia Research Center’s Ruoholahti HQ sits Sam. He’s very dedicated and doesn’t get out much.

Surrounded by walls of rubbery spikes worth €3,000 a square metre, the yellow-headed dummy sits inside a circle clutching his handset to his head in the anechoic (echo-free) chamber which eliminates any interference or stray signals.

He spins around so that the reception can be monitored from every angle.

I can’t resist asking Nokia antenna engineer Petri Sinisalo, who monitors the results in the control room, which is the best phone he has tested.

“N9,” he says straight away.

“What about the new Lumia?” I ask.

“I didn’t get to work on that one,” he says. “But I’m really looking forward to trying it.”

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