I'm housebound and so don't have or need a cell phone...but I would like to send and receive texts the way I see friends doing on their cell phones.  I also want to be able to do web browsing for easy info/research without turning on my heavy duty graphics computer.  I have WiFi and am hoping the Nexus 7 can use it to do both texting and browsing without a cell account.

If I need extra software to do texting, what is best?

Also, I notice there seems to be more than one version of Nexus 7 (Google and ASUS???).  If so, which one?  I have a Gmail acct if that matters.

Someone who knows nuttin about Android or tablets.