I kinda feel like you're speaking on behalf of people who's opinions you don't know. Including me, and I really don't like that.
Personally, I do want those things. I wouldn't shed a tear if they removed, but I feel they'll enhance the experience. I'm also sick of the busted aspects of the current release. I like have the character stats page, and I want it to work properly going forward. I actually consider a game not having some kind of character stats or bio page a point against it. Yeah, that's weird, but I doubt I'm the only one.
Also, who is skipping the phone conversations? That's story content. Unless you're suggesting 70% of people are skipping the plot altogether, in which case, there is a mode in the options that does that for you. Though it currently inconsistent on whether it works at the moment, so that's another thing that will benefit from the merge.