However, many basic apps frequently freeze or don't respond

It did come with some unneeded apps (Japanese & some other language translator) which I got rid of

Did not like all the preloaded ads and apps but easy enough to delete....

If you don't like them you can disable the apps

I did disable the Amazon apps on the phone as we have them all on a Fire Tablet already.

Hopefully it improves as I go along and figure out way to reduce that effect

This is the phone's defect as when I switch back to my old phone, the signal strength is so much better.

The service lags as it constantly switches towers and their support is awful