Some of this criticism I can understand and some seems like it's from considering the worst case scenario and declaring it general in terrible.
I like the multi-pane control center and it makes sense to me separate out media, home and system controls. That first pane though, the system one, on the iPad is pretty brutally bad. It looks like the controls were just thrown on and left to auto layout and spread to fill the space.
Widgets page: Well, if you lay out it like it is in the op, with only two controls and both on the right pane, then it's going to look a bit odd. Seems like we hear that iOS needs customization then, when it gets it (put any of the many available widgets, in any order, over two panes) that's apparently bad too. I have Carrot Weather, Outlook Calendar and Siri App Suggestions on the left and News and Battery Widget on the right and it's attractive (to me) and functional.
Lock Screen: Specifically on the iPad, where people seem to complain the most. Previously everything was jammed into a column in the middle of the iPad in landscape and that was a bad design imo. Now, people see the clock on the left or media controls in isolation in the right and freak out about a "bad use of space". Sure, if you take a screenshot of a 3 pane design (clock on the top, notifications under on the left, media under on the right) where any given part is empty it's going to look a bit unbalanced. When you actually have notifications, are using the media player it looks more than fine and is a good use of space, much better than the previous design.
Each to his own and all but, apart from the giant airplay mirroring and nightshift buttons on CC, I think the design is an all round functional improvement.
