Initial impressions of Samsung Pay

So today I went ahead an opened a Bank of America account so I could try Samsung pay.
Initial setup: Initial setup is a pain, you have to call BoA after you open the account and answer 4 obscure questions from your "credit check".

Usage: I've used the card 3 times now. I've discovered you want to scan your finger print after the machine is waiting for the card. If you scan your fingerprint before the swipe card, you can actually crash the POS machine. So today I crashed a local gasstation POS.

If anyone has any questions, shoot away.

Making a New ebay Fire Phone (ATT) initial set-up guide- please help with "step 3"

My Fire Phone will be arriving from Ebay tomorrow (new, ATT unlocked version) and wanting to figure out the best steps to optimize it before it auto-updates to 4.6.4. Lots of great info in these threads, but I'm a bit uncertain about the correct steps to take once my phone arrives. Figured a bunch of people are in the same boat, so I'm trying to write a quick guide and hope to draw from people's experience here.

Step 1:
Activate Phone with Amazon to get free year of Prime. Follow guide at: spinyourfire.com/fire-phone-tips-and-tricks/register-fire-phone/

Step 2:
Unlock phone using code from Ebay seller.

***Step 3:
This is where I'm a bit confused. I know that gApps work best with 4.6.3, but that ATT versions automatically update to 4.6.4, which is not gApps friendly. It sounds like downgrading from 4.6.4 is time consuming...
So what do people rec is the best initial step? Should I turn off automatic updates or is there a better course of action? Maybe I need to install root/Safestrap and then use the stock 4.6.3 image?

Step 4:
Install gApps following the guide at spinyourfire.com/fire-phone-tips-and-tricks/turn-fire-phone-into-android-phone

Step 5:
Conserve battery life:
Disable Tilt/Swivel/Dynamic Perspective/Peek/Auto-scroll – Go to Settings > Display > Configure low motion settings – Enable ‘Low Motion Mode’
Disable Bluetooth, NFC and any other features you are not using.

Step 6:
consider more advanced options such as Root/Safestrap in order to make CM11 or SlimKat possible (see developer threads.) Also consider adding an alternative start screen and/or Google Now.