few android questions

[ViviTheMage]

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?

Google Maps leaves you no way to save waypoints ... I don't want to drop $40 on navigon again, but I might just because I am used to it and it's always worked for me. Plus, I can save waypoints :S ... unless there's an easy way to save waypoints? I saw a few work arounds, but they're a pita.

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.

 

[Bman123]

1- Go SMS is a highly recommended app
2- I have no clue as I don't have IMAP email
3- On the stock calendar app you should be able to select it for the month week or day by clicking the month in the top left corner
4- You can't remove Google apps as they are built in to the ROM that's on the phone. You can use titanium backup to freeze the apps so they don't work or root and put a different ROM with a stripped Google apps package on there
5-Googles backup is pretty good, I've not had a problem with it. Backs up my contacts, calendar and apps so I don't lose them when switching devices
6- I use the stock navigation app and after I've used a address to go to the next time I go to type in the Addy its always there for me like a previous history and I just click that destination
7- Battery life is dependant on how you use your device and how your signal is. I leave everything off (Bluetooth, WiFi, data, GPS) when I'm not using them and I keep my screen dim at or below 25%. I have a lg G2 and have no trouble making it 36-48 hours on a single charge but that's only because I turn stuff off when I don't use it and I'm not glued to my phone all day like some other people I see.

 

[MrSquished]

for texting i've tried a bunch that all have their pluses, but always came back to handcent. i recently discovered https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkleft.eightyeightsms.mms&hl=en and have been using it for a week so far and don't miss handcent. it's clean fast and smart.

if you keep your contacts, calendar, etc... synced with a google account you won't lose those. i use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore&hl=en to backup all my SMS. it's free and has cloud backup options. and works like a charm.

backup your photos by using Google Photos and/or manually copying them to say a folder in Google Drive. there are probably other good options just don't know of any.

there are some great Calendar apps that can probably do what you want. start checking them out and reading reviews and/or trying out the free versions before buyin g a pro version.

 

[ImDonly1]

1- Go SMS is a highly recommended app
2- I have no clue as I don't have IMAP email
3- On the stock calendar app you should be able to select it for the month week or day by clicking the month in the top left corner
4- You can't remove Google apps as they are built in to the ROM that's on the phone. You can use titanium backup to freeze the apps so they don't work or root and put a different ROM with a stripped Google apps package on there
5-Googles backup is pretty good, I've not had a problem with it. Backs up my contacts, calendar and apps so I don't lose them when switching devices
6- I use the stock navigation app and after I've used a address to go to the next time I go to type in the Addy its always there for me like a previous history and I just click that destination
7- Battery life is dependant on how you use your device and how your signal is. I leave everything off (Bluetooth, WiFi, data, GPS) when I'm not using them and I keep my screen dim at or below 25%. I have a lg G2 and have no trouble making it 36-48 hours on a single charge but that's only because I turn stuff off when I don't use it and I'm not glued to my phone all day like some other people I see.

You can uninstall or at least disable google apps in the all apps screen.
I have uninstalled google+, play games, play music, etc like that.

 

[cpacini]

for texting i've tried a bunch that all have their pluses, but always came back to handcent. i recently discovered https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkleft.eightyeightsms.mms&hl=en and have been using it for a week so far and don't miss handcent. it's clean fast and smart.

I too use this app for messaging, it is quite good.

 

[Crono]

I used to use K-9 Mail for email.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fsck.k9&hl=en

It's pretty good, but now I just host my email address through Google Apps for Business/Gmail and forward everything to that one account.

For battery life you can try Snapdragon BatteryGuru, which learns your usage over a few days before trying to optimize battery life. Greenify is another good, root app for that. Usually the major battery killers are screen - which you are already addressing - and the radios. So long as you don't have too many apps waking up your phone or syncing in the background you should be fine. Some custom ROMs will also cut out a lot of the built-in services that may be problematic, but I haven't owned a Nexus 5 so I'd head over to XDA and do some searching to see what works best.

I don't use Google Maps anymore, but I think Waze has waypoints feature. Waze is the best navigation app overall in my experience on Android.
https://plus.googleapis.com/wm/4/+Waze/posts/1YF9Ho5949V