Gmail App can't sign out is there a way of changing to different gmail account?

Hi Guys,

I got a smartphone for Christmas last which i absolutely love but I was really surprised to see that there is no way of signing out of some of the email accounts such as gmail. Now this seems bonkers to me in terms of privacy/security etc when phones getting lost or stolen is a fairly common thing.

After looking online I can see there's no way around this other than to remove the mail apps which I've done with my other emails but as the gmail one came with the phone it seems to be connected to a load of other functions/apps which means removing it could remove them or affect them in some way...which brings me to my question.

Is there a way to change the gmail account the phone is using without actually uninstalling the gmail app. In other words I'd like to set up a new gmail account with none of my private mails and let that be the one my phone app connects to?

Is this possible or would I have to remove the whole app and reinstall (meaning it would affect whatever other functions/apps the gmail one is connected to)

I still can't believe it's acceptable that you can't sign out of your account on the phone:eek::rolleyes:

I'd appreciate any tips people can give me on this because I'm new to the whole andriod/smartphone world.

Thanks!
DrF