Is there an antenna in the back cover of the phone with contacts to reach these pads?
Nope, but that's a good guess.
The back cover is plain plastic. It would have to have needles to interact with these points.
There's no charcoal gray stickers or gold contacts or anything.
I certainly looks like some kind of sync signals, there's never any data on it.
If we call the levels 3, 2, 1, 0, then 3 and 0 although they kind of look like preemphasis are distinct levels.
If it were something RF-ish, why would it idle at level 2 at the end of the burst before going to level 0?