I agree with the OP. There is a lot of wasted space that becomes the space for the seat in front of you to recline. The new 747 seats work things out in a much more friendly manner, large amount of flat space for storage, computers, etc.
Any of the flat seats on any of the planes beats the old BE cradle seat overwhelmingly, but I found the 747 sleeper seat to have much more room, storage slots, table space etc.