few droid questions

[Anthony Srdar]

I've spent a few hours with my nexus 5 and am enjoying it so far. Few questions though:

Is the texting/google hangout, I am not sure I like it, can you make sms/mms come into a different application? If so, what's a pretty good one? Or is ghangouts the only decent one?

Also, email applications, I have some imap and gmail, I don't like using two applications, is it possible there's a better one? Or a way to get the gmail app to show all my email in one shot?

Is there a way for the calendar to show the whole week, and then snippets of what's going on during that day, kind of a half view of the week + what's going on during the day?

Can you remove google applications, or are they required to stay on the phone?

Is google backup the best backup method, or should I be looking at some other way to back up my phone incase I lose it? IS it imilar to icloud?

Are there any options to increase battery? I don't like really bright screens so I have it jacked down all the way already. I've also turned off notifications for some of the pesky apps, because I don't like getting notifications except from texts or emails.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central!

can you make sms/mms come into a different application?

There are a few 3rd party SMS apps available. Try GO SMS Pro.

Also, email applications, I have some imap and gmail, I don't like using two applications, is it possible there's a better one?

Again, there are 3rd party apps available. Try K-9 Mail.

Is there a way for the calendar to show the whole week, and then snippets of what's going on during that day, kind of a half view of the week + what's going on during the day?

In the Calendar app, tap the upper left, and choose Week.

Can you remove google applications, or are they required to stay on the phone?

Unless you root the phone (the process of obtaining superuser access), you can't uninstall preinstalled apps. You can Disable them by going to Settings>Apps>All, selecting the app, and tapping Disable. This prevents the app from opening and taking up any system RAM. I don't recommend rooting and removing system apps unless you know what you're doing--if you delete the wrong thing, you could irreversibly brick the phone.

Is google backup the best backup method, or should I be looking at some other way to back up my phone incase I lose it?

It depends on how heavily invested you are in the Google ecosystem. If you use Google for your contacts, calendar, music, etc., and if you use Google Drive as your cloud storage, then it's a no-brainer, because of the close integration with the phone. However, you can't backup data from non-Google apps, so there are other options as well, like Helium.

Are there any options to increase battery?

See this guide: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...how-tos/298919-guide-battery-saving-tips.html

Have fun! One more word of advice--when referring to Android in general, don't say "Droid." Droid refers to the Verizon branded phones, and if you use that term to refer to all Android devices, someone is bound to correct you.