Yes, Gmail is an email system.
You can send mail from gmail to other email id the same way as you do it for gmail IDs.
Yes, it is possible to send it. It is because Gmail is able to send data to different services too. Gmail can send an email to Live too.
Yes
You can send images to Gmail via phone also. You need to have Gmail signed in on phone. Then compose a Email and click on attach.
You can send mails from Gmail to other mails. Gmail allows sending to yahoo, hotmail etc. This increases the functionality and it's scope.
It does not cost anything to send an email. Gmail is a completely free of cost service. The only cost is the internet your network provider will cost you.
You can send effect designs via attachment in email. The size in Gmail is limited to 25 MB only. After that, it should be sent via Drive.
You have to compose the email to send. The sender's name has to be put in. The subject of the mail is optional if you want.
You can send chat request to your friends on GMail if you know their email address.
You can directly send mails from Google to Yahoo. The Gmail supports this feature of sending mails. It can send mails to Yahoo server as well.
Gmail users can easily email Hotmail users. Gmail allows their mails to send to other mail servers. Hotmail can also receive their corresponding Gmail mails.