I think what we see in Lomiri, Phosh and Plasma Mobile (supposing that your post is mainly about these) is a mix of meeting expectations, replicating familiar patterns, and doing what works on a slab of glass.
I still miss physical keyboards (I felt so much more productive with my T-Mobile G1 back in the day, and the PinePhone with keyboard and Sxmo was also a productivity boost), and remembers PDAs (with GPE and Opie), I know a more 'productive' mobile experience is possible.