Most of the adhesive is on the top and bottom ends, yes.

I would recommend one to steer clear of the camera assembly though (the LED lens is plastic and melts) + the center (where the battery is, mine swelled a bit).

You could at least save your SIM cards (and uSD card) some of the unnecessary heat treatment that way.

The instructions on the pull tab itself are pretty clear and contradict what's said here!

"Tear from position 1, and then pull out the battery from position 2."

The battery sits in a kind of a black "vest", which is the thing glued to the phone (not the battery itself).

This vest can be "unbuttoned" from the top and bottom sides (position 1, visible on some of the previous pictures).

After that the battery would pop out with much less effort (there is some adhesive in the "vest", but it's much less robust).

What is being depicted here is quite dangerous and unnecessary, as it makes the battery bend heavily.