I find this annoying as well, and hope Google addresses it soon. Does anyone know the best place to report feedback on this issue to Google? Is there bug already reported that we can go to and just +1?
I'm running an ATT Atrix2 with 4.0.4
What I've found is that:
A) if there are embedded pics in the email, and i've previously allowed pics from that sender, they are ALWAYS listed at the top of the email, requiring me to scroll thru a bunch of small pics (each with the option of VIEW or SAVE), before I can get to the actual message of the email
B) if the pics are just like an embedded logo with a signature or something of that nature, then they're usually displayed at the correct location within the email message as well as being listed at the top of the email. If someone has pasted in a bunch of HTML (say, a news article) with a bunch of pics, and sent it to me as an email, then usually the pics are listed at the top of the email, but NOT displayed within the message (i just get a blue box with a "?").
Not earth-shattering, but annoying enough for me to search the issue, and post in a forum, hoping to get a feedback link where I can complain to Google =)