I agree with the inconsistencies raised here. As for #3, there is a way to accomplish this within the Phone application today, although it could certainly be improved: do a long press on the contact in the recent call list, which will bring up a context menu with "Open Contact Card" and "Delete". Select "Open Contact Card" which will bring up all the ways to communicate with that contact, including SMS. Of course, choosing SMS will open up Conversations and put you back in landscape mode, so point #4 is still open.