The bands look like a good design decision.
Firstly they are needed to seperate the metal panels (just like htc one).
Unlike the htc one, the outer band around the edge cover the edges of the device, because they are convex, they are thick. The htc one didnt do this - resulting in damage to the small panels when dropped and landing on bottom or top edge of phone.
Once you are set on thick bands around the edges, the brand across the device needs to be the same thickness - other wise it will be even more ugly.
I wouldn't be surprised if these bands and sapphire are explained as making the phone near indestructible - something you can't do with glass panels of iphone5,