I could not agree more about the allergy ratio. The only justification I can give is the navigation buttons are gone, so that makes up for then being on screen.

I remember when wider aspect ratios were being pushed, before bezel-less displays, and Samsung had a very large radius for their curved screens, and the phones felt very stretched out. Honestly I would be happy with 16:9 to 19:9 and zero curve, but I am a sucker for the best cameras and most usable zoom.