All excellent points. Many of which will be rectified in due time. Android is becoming more polished but some of it does suffer as by nature it's evolution is quite Heath Robinson.
I think the hangout application has replaced the text messaging one. I would imagine the must be an sms select option somewhere. Other than that there's always Handcent our some other third party app.
I like the HTC one, however there is a big advantage in having vanilla android imo and any nexus device will be supported both quicker and for a longer period.