I’ve changed my keyboard settings and am very happy with the iPhone keyboard after readjusting. My settings:
Auto Capitalization: On
*Auto-Correction: Off
Check Spelling: On
Enable Caps Lock: On
*Predictive: Off
Smart Punctuation: On[1]
*Slide to Type: Off
Character Preview: On
“.” Shortcut: On
The ones with an asterisk make the biggest difference, and you may have to readjust to not having crazy touch targets.
[1] I like the look of “” vs "", personally, but it’s good to know regardless that it does this because it won’t work if you are typing a sting literal, lol.