Google Nexus 5 phone and SMS

[Steve]

Sorry about the cross-posting to DIY but the wealth of knowledge in there is superb!

I've just got the Google Nexus 5 phone (was delivered on Friday morning) and so far I'm well pleased with it, it appears to be excellent - except for one thing.

Text messaging (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS) is now done by/with Google Hangouts. I don't use Google Hangouts and probably never will; I don't know what Google Hangouts is and I've no particular wish to find out - if I needed it or wanted it, I would have started using it before now, but I don't.

So, how can I turn this 'feature' off and go back to 'traditional' text messaging? If it can't be turned off and I have to use some third-party app for texting, what's the best one to go with?

[Andy Burns]

You don't need to use any of the other Hangouts features, just use Hangouts as an SMS application, once you've sent/received messages from each of your contacts, they get their own ongoing thread like the old text app.

One thing ... if you do stick with Hangouts, set it to *not* use MMS for sending SMS to multiple contacts ... if you really don't want to use it, there are other apps but I can't recommend any in particular.

[Steve]

Ok, cheers Andy

[pcb1962]

Settings / 'More...' (4th item, just below Data Usage) / 'Default SMS App' Here you can choose from Hangouts or whatever other SMS-capable apps you have installed. Really no reason not to use Hangouts for SMS though.

[S Viemeister]

I don't like Hangouts, wither, so I switched to "8sms".

[philipuk]

I've got a Nexus 5 too.

Are you affected by the bug that causes it to sometimes not ring for incoming calls until powercycled? It's very annoying.

Philip

[S Viemeister]

I haven't noticed that with mine, and I've been using it since the first week in December.

[Steve]

I honestly don't know Philip. I've only had it since Friday and only had two incoming calls - or at least, only two that I know about.

Does it still vibrate on incoming calls? I suppose it must do, otherwise how do you know that you've missed one?

[chris French]

In message , Steve writes

You should get a missed call indicator, in the notification bar.

On my phone it is a little red bent arrow

[Steve]

chris French explained :

Doh! Why didn't I think of that :D Yes, I saw that icon as I was setting it up and testing it by using the landline to call it without answering. So far, I've not had any 'genuine' missed calls then, and none that have gone to voicemail (unless I've wanted that) either.