Theirs no good reason you can't have it "your way." Here's my first attempt at a portrait mode conversation UI. I had to rework a bunch of stuff from my landscape version, but all for the better. Going back and forth from landscape to portrait isn't trivial, but with list-type apps, it's not unreasonable. Next, I'm gonna try to throw up a working half-screen keyboard; I should have something to show over the next few days.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm just messin' around, but I think the point is clear.