Report of LG-made Nexus phone point to an Optimus G-based droid

So, the rumor mill has been abuzz that the LG Optimus G (the Snapdragon S4 Pro powerhouse) will be used as base for the next Google Nexus Phone. A tipster has contactedAndroidAndMe to give it a first hand account of what the LG-made Nexus is like.

It reportedly looks about the same as the current Galaxy Nexus phone and is about the same size. There's a silver band running around the perimeter of the phone, similar to that of the iPhone 3G and a Nexus logo on the back similar to the Nexus 7 (with the "x" styled to look like the four-colored Nexus logo).

The tipster also claims the LG Nexus is running Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie, which at the moment is hard to distinguish from 4.1. There are more transition effects and everything runs smoothly (on this hardware how could it not) but the new OS still doesn’t consolidate the messaging department of Android.

AndroidAndMe was also sent an 8MP photo with the appropriate EXIF data, though they couldn’t share it "due to the nature of the photo". Still, the photo points to the LG Optimus Nexus (or whatever they call it) using the 8MP version of the Optimus G camera (as opposed to the 13MP one).

All that is far from confirmed but the rumor mill is really insistent that LG will be making the next Nexus phone. We also heard that "Nexus" phones might be built by multiple makers, so the LG Nexus might not be the next Nexus phone, just one of a generation of Nexus phones.

Still, the whole thing is rather iffy. First of all, we've seen photos from a Samsung I9260 which is supposed to be the Galaxy Nexus 2 (though that isn't a problem if multiple companies are making Nexus phones). And it was a Sony phone, the Xperia S, that was accepted into the AOSP project, making it a likely candidate to become a Nexus phone.

Then there's the Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset - Nexus phones don't have a strong history of using top of the line components (even the Nexus 7 uses the Tegra 3 version with the lowest clock speed). Nexus devices seem to focus on accessible price ($200 for the Nexus 7, $350 for the Galaxy Nexus) and delivering a pure Android experience, leaving the high-end stuff to the OEM's flagships.

Then there's LG's track record of updating their phones - it's less than stellar. Come to think of it, having a Nexus phone might actually be good for LG, helping them push out updates faster and countering their "slow to update" image.

Still, nothing is certain until the fat lady sings (or a major tech event passes and LG doesn’t announce an Optimus Nexus).

Note: the image above is just a rough mockup we made in Photoshop based on the description.

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