How to make the Galaxy Note 7 work best?

[InternetUser230945]

I'm a long-time iOS user, and coming over to the Note 7 was a big challenge for me. They're very different worlds! That being said, I keep hearing that the Note 7 is/isn't fast and is/isn't laggy. Coming at it from my point of view, that of a new Android-user, what are the universal tips to keep this phone operating best? For example, I have Nova Launcher. Do I need to "disable" the Samsung launcher at all? I've disabled the Verizon bloatware, but is there anything else? Should I consistently use the battery-saver option? Are there graphics options I should enable/disable? I figure there are a lot of new Android users with this phone and this might be helpful.
Here's my breakdown so far:
Textra for messaging.
Google Photos for photos.
Is Samsung contacts syncing with my Google contacts?
Should I use the Samsung camera app?
Nova Launcher for home screen

I'd appreciate any input!

 

[Oj467]

Disable DT Ignite if you haven't already. I prefer Swiftkey to the stock keyboard myself. I tried Textra but found I actually prefer the VZW Message + app - plus you can install it on your tablet and it works similar to iMessage. That's all I got for now.

 

[jimd1050]

Don't worry about enabling battery saver either! I'm getting far better battery life "without" on this phone than I did with it enabled on my Note 5. I believe it affects performance negatively more so on this phone than the Note 5 so leave it off!