getting my 1st i phone, i phone 6 new to apple

Hi all. Firstly to introduce myself.

I am blind, have been for 10 years now. I'm Mark, from Ware in Hertfordshire in the UK. I am coming over to apple and to the i phone from a nokia n 70 with talks. Its a big jump but i think its about time i did enter the 21st century.

So i have ordered myself a i phone 6 128 gig. Not knowing how much storage i'll need i thought i'd like my music on the go and enough room for extra and no worries of running out.

So being a newbie to apple and apple products having only tried one in a phone shop once having found the 4 S really hard to use notably typing.

I am keeping two phones going for a bit with my o2 N 70 monthly simplicity deal fora nyone familiar with that deal in the UK.

I am trying a i phone 6 and hope to get to grips with it and will eventually make the I phone my primary phone.

A few questions. Are there any guides to using voice over on a i phone 6 and any good tips and tricks i need to learn really to get up to speed with my new i phone.

My main worry as i do text a lot is about typing and replying to text messages quickly.
I've read various things on learning the keyboard, touch typing and this new direct touch typing. Clearly i need to get myself up to speed with typing and how the keyboard is laid out but can texting become as quick as the old T9 predictive text with the old nokia's ?

i hope so other things i will learn as i go but a phone that i can text quickly and well and do calls and answer is always my main focus. All things else like accessibility and cool new aps i will encounter as i go. If any good free or reasonably priced aps that a newbie should look for being totally blind and are aps that are well worth getting do feel free to leave reccomendations

many thanks and hope to hear from you soon

Mark