As for the design, I think it’s very nice. I’ll be getting one soon, also in black.
For me, the biggest loss is the ability to take macro photos. My first iPhone was the original SE, the next was the SE 2020 (and I missed Night mode so much back then). My third iPhone is the 13 mini, and I finally got Night mode, but I miss macro (since the iPhone 13 Pro Keynote). But, for me, more important than macro mode is the battery (and size, which are related).
There will be no more small iPhones, so with that battle over (and lost) and looking at the 6.1-inch iPhones, battery is a very important thing for me.
My 13 mini with 84% battery health gives me about 4 hours of screen. All my iPhones have had a poor battery, so… the 16e seems very appropriate to me.
I also really like the design, very clean and clear on the back, reminiscent of the design of my first iPhone SE (the most beautiful iPhone I ever had, in my opinion).
In my country I can buy a regular 16 for around €750 and the new 16e costs around €600. It’s not a huge difference, but I prefer more battery over a better camera system (I think the 16e will do me just fine, except for macro…), and the other things I’m going to lose don’t seem very important to me, like more brightness, ultrawide chip, MagSafe…