Hey August!

 AA> The screen is not ideal for incoming originally wide lines (the
 AA> body of the text tends to honour the presence of hard CRs., and
 AA> the since the screen is a perfect 2"x2" square, there is no
 AA> landscape-view option.

None of that should matter.  What does matter is the word wrapping upon display.  I note that in the case of the original it appears to hardwrap at 72 characters which I believe goes back to the teletype days ... either that or line printers, although I doubt that since there were many printers back then that could do much more than 80 characters nevermind 72.

 AA> However, I understand that smartphones with 16:9 screens can be
 AA> tilted horizontally to get a better representation of some
 AA> messages that arrive in the original 70-80char per line form.

With the default font, an android based tablet can handle 80 character width on both portrait and landscape modes (16:9).  I imagine the same can be said for smartphones and other handheld devices.

 AA> And.. I also use the desktop version which I find is the
 AA> easiest way to produce a reply.

Proper word wrapping would be required to convince me.  I have a tablet that can produce proper MSGs that is entirely capable of both displaying and creating MSGs that does this the correct way without ANY changes to standards ... or worse; goofy kludges that create more problems and solve absolutely nothing.

Life is good,
Maurice

... Feorma šu symle in šinum ferše god.
    Always foster in your heart what is good.
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