The stuff you're suffering from is due to the good things about iOS-- it treats the battery well giving better life, and longevity. Apple doesn't hate widgets and bling, the reason they aren't letting you put stuff on the home screen like that is to protect the battery.
In fact the reason for everything "bad" about iOS is to make for a better user experience. You may disagree with Apple's choices but google reviews apps, takes a cut of revenue, etc too. Google has a walled garden approach when it comes to android phones. (But there's a version of linux called "android" that doesn't include google apps that is open source-- which people like to pretend is the same operating system, switching back and forth between them-- pointing to the google apps version when talking about features, but then switching to the other one when talking about freedom.)
If your battery and camera are having issues and you haven't run out your two years, then that should tell you something.
I have an original iPhone-- the one from 2007. It's now 8 years old. Due to being in subzero weather the screen froze at one point and it lost some pixels. Other than that, it STILL WORKS FINE.