It's been pretty well established over on XDA that the only way to improve the performance of the 1GB RAM units is to either solder in 2GB or replace Google Play Services with
MicroG, both of which are somewhat tedious.
My soldering skills aren't up to snuff so I'm waiting for the next ROM revision by Malaysk which will hopefully incorporate MicroG.
To anyone considering a 1GB unit I would suggest making sure the MCU is of the MTCB/C/D type. The ROMs by Malaysk, DSA8310, Booroondook, et al. will only run on those and you will otherwise be stuck with whatever the reseller (Joying, Pumpkin, Eonon, Panlelo, whoever) offers in terms of updates/upgrades, which is not a good thing IMO.