Instead of using Bitrium repackage in attempt to reuse the ReadAsAsync<T>
extension method that is in System.Net.Http.Formatting, I opted for Json.NET instead. Therefore did not need to rely on the repackage, but rather just on the current standard implementations of the PCL build of the lib containing HttpClient (NuGet <package id="Microsoft.Net.Http" version="2.2.18" targetFramework="portable-net45+sl50+MonoAndroid10+MonoTouch10" />
).
var resultString = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
Contacts = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<T>>(resultString);
I found this post helful for the new Json.NET piece.