Well, "resolution-dependent" means everything is drawn at fixed pixel sizes, in fixed positions, such that it will look nice on an 800x480 display. But if the display is sized differently, and especially if it is smaller in either direction, parts of it will be inaccessible.

xrandr is the extension used for rotating the screen, for portrait mode.

"Havoced" is the past tense of havoc, a noun which I have gleefully verbed to describe the result of trying to fit 800x480 into 480x800:

Note that scrunching the contacts list down (with a scrollbar, if necessary) could have left all controls accessible. But lazy programmers know they're coding for a certain size of screen, and then when someone introduces a new feature, their work is exposed as the junk it is...