Yep... the rumors are all true... if you look at the seat alignment on the plane you'll find that all seats in row 15 are lined up, but 16GH are 8 - 12 inches "ahead" of 16AB... the same goes for 17GH vs AB.

I didn't measure it, but having 16AB on the way to PEK and 17AB on the way back it seemed like 16 had a little more (4 - 6 inches) more room. We were about 3/4 full on the way back and I had no disturbances from the galley or otherwise in 17A.

After reading all of the posts here about the air vents I noticed that I was able to get a nice blast of air on my face in 17A. Perhaps they moved the panel? (This was also a much newer 744 than others I've seen).