IOS 9.3 was released recently. I resisted installing it, having read convincing accounts of safari crashing, not just on old devices but newer ones too.
But 9.3.1 is now out, supposedly fixing these crashes. I installed 9.3.1 on a couple of devices today. First impressions are all is OK, not much changed, but on further inspection, the iPad 2 actually seems a lot happier as a web browser at least.
I've tried browsing a few of the big newspapers' ad-laden websites, which the iPad 2 struggled with ever since iOS 8, these pages seemed fine - loaded first time with no reloads. I then went to Amazon which, since iOS 8, has shown infuriating 'lag' when typing in the search box... No significant keyboard lag at all, this time.
It's early days, first impressions are sometimes wrong, but my own first impression of iOS 9.3.1 on iPad 2 is pretty darned good. No problems so far on the newer devices either.