[Stephen]

I never bother removing much. They don't come with much preinstalled nonsense anymore. My tab s6 has all apps sorted into folders and only a page and a half of apps not in folders. Just customising the appearance and the quick access features like swipe does to open the status bar from desktop and swipe up to access apps, although you can still have the app drawer icon if you want. Double tap to lock screen.

I think the crashes you got on the s2 were just newer apps struggling on the older hardware/software.