Yes, disabling some apps and services may save a few % in CPU usage and also in RAM. But I am of the opinion that something is inherently wrong in this implementation of Android. Things like the unbelievably slow volume bar (which gets a bit faster when using an HDMI device, like the PS4), that was also crashing, the Home and Settings noticeably lagging, the Discovery menu disappearing, can be the symptoms of some serious bugs.
The CPU cores of these TVs are far from being efficient, but they are not really undersized for basic operations. It makes little sense that browsing in some apps (like Netflix or the now updated TIMvision app in Italy) is much less laggy than browsing Home (Leanback) with its few icons or the settings. Even Kodi v18 (alpha) the scrolling has got quite faster. That shows to me that optimisation is possible and, maybe, those system apps (like Home, Volume bar, Settings, etc) are using some APIs discarded in testing phase by third party developers. Sure, this last one is just a guess.
Then there are the known bugs. For example the unfamous Amazon Video. When I start a video the audio hiccups. Constantly sometimes. But if I go into audio settings (and thus outside the Amazon Video app), and I switch the DD Plus output to Dolby Digital and back, it partially stops. During the streaming or pausing the video is doesn't matter.
It happens only with Amazon Video (well, sporadically with other apps too. But I get the few millisecs of silence watching videos with the Chromecast in my kitchen's TV as well), but it gets partially fixed acting on Android's settings. So I really don't know who is to blame for that anymore, if Amazon or Sony/Mediatek. I'd say both because Amazon could still test its awful app and find some workaround like all other media players do.
The problem is that, judging from Sony removing the announcement for the incoming announcement in fall of Android 7.0 for ATV1, I believe Mediatek (as usual) isn't really trying to iron out those bugs. Amazon itself switched from Mediatek to Amlogic in the last Fire TV. Maybe because they have got a better deal (probably), it even seems the last model (with Amlogic) is slower. But I like to think that it's also because they have got quite sick of the lack of support from that Mediatek company. Which apparently doesn't even disclose the source code to its customers. Although I don't know about Amlogic practices.
