Definitely need the option to set it to "never." I like to use my phone as a media player in my car (while charging) and having to unlock it every 5 minutes of inactivity is a bit annoying. The claim that the "never" option isn't there because it's a battery hog is ridiculous; might as well not not have an option to set screen brightness to high cause that's a battery hog too. We should have the option of setting it how we want it. And pocket dialing is user error. If you don't lock your phone before putting it in your pocket, that's the user's fault really.
It's kind of a let down not having the little things like this, rotation lock, separate volume controls, etc. Previous iOS users may have taken these things for granted since it seemed so basic after using it for so long and it's kind of annoying not having these "standard" features. It's a shame the Portico update didn't do anything about these "features" but hopefully they're working on it. I still love the phone and work around these issues for now.