This really need not be the case. With practice I have become quiute proficient typing the common symbols and all of the numbers. Instead of a one-tap character

This really need not be the case. With practice I have become quiute proficient typing the common symbols and all of the numbers. Instead of a one-tap character it is a two-tap character, that's all. (quick iPad tips that are a huge help: swipe from right hand number key upwards to the exclamation/comma key to type " ; swipe from the right hand shift key to the question mark/period key to type a period)