@andrew --
My personal everyday device is a Galaxy Note 3, I get 9 message list items per screen (in portrait) at the smallest font setting.
What about you? The "9" is with the default wide padding top/bottom inside each message list item. Turning it off should fit even more -- this is in app settings -> message list -> "use slim padding".
@malik --
There are many things I'd like to do, but right now I'm trying to work on embedded images in rich text (e.g. corporate signatures, pictures of cats, etc.)
No news on the next development build yet, sorry. Things have been difficult.