Google Nexus 5 Release Date, Specs and Price: Two Competing Theories of the Nexus 5, Now That LG G2 Is Here in the US

The world of Nexus has been eerily quiet recently: Does this suggest the calm before the storm, or is there actually nothing on the horizon?

The consensus of rumors have centered in on one date for two new products from Google: October 29, 2013 (but, really, late October to early November) is when Google is expected to release Android 5.0, along with the new Nexus 5 smartphone.

There are a lot of factors playing into this consensus, which TechRadar thoroughly lists, including some leaked documents, "Key Lime Pie" Easter eggs, the timing of the 5^th anniversary of Android, and the rumor that LG is manufacturing the new device. The last factor can be fully explored now, as LG officially unveiled the LG G2 handset, which was rumored to match the specs of the upcoming Nexus 5 closely.

The LG G2, which was unveiled in the U.S. Wednesday, August 7, has a 5.2-inch 1080p HD touchscreen. It's powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, clocked at 2.26GHz, assisted by Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of RAM. It has an internal storage capacity of 32GB, with no microSD card slot for expansion. It currently runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system, and has a 3,000 mAh battery.

The Nexus 5, on the other hand, is also rumored to be powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, clocked to 2.3GHz, and 3GB of RAM. Importantly, it will supposedly feature a 5.2-inch display, an odd display size that LG claims to have decided upon through careful market research and realizing that the average hand is most comfortable with that size.

However, there's another theory, put forth by the editorial team at Stuff, which is an interesting - though, if true, disappointing - take on the recent Google developments. Their take was basically: What if the Nexus 5 is not going to happen at all?

Google recently teamed with Samsung and HTC for stock android "nexus experience" Google Play editions of the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4. What if Google does the same thing with LG, instead of partnering with them for a U.S. release of an almost identical Google device with an almost identical price?

Update: LG says it's not planning a Google Play edition: "As of right now, LG doesn't have any plans for a Google Play edition. The focus for the G2 is penetration through carriers," said LG's Ken Hong. But that decision "could change down the road." 

Google's recent timely updates to Android 4.3 on Google Play editions - just a week after the Nexus lineup got the new Android system - shows that Google is really treating these second cousins as part of the Android family. And if you have Google Play editions of all the flagship smartphones, which could easily be updated to Android 5.0 whenever it's released, why compete with your own hardware anymore - especially if it almost exactly matches the hardware of another flagship phone that has just been unveiled on all 4 networks?

Still, one might argue, the Google Nexus 7 2 tablet was just unveiled, so the Nexus line is far from done. But that's an Android tablet, and there's not such a crowded top-tier competition for Android tablets. Samsung and the Kindle, for example, may be very popular tablets, but no Android tablets dominate the market in the same way that the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 dominate the Android smartphone market. Except, of course, maybe the Nexus tablet lineup, which would be a good enough reason to continue making Nexus 7 and Nexus 10s.

But that argument doesn't apply for the Nexus 5.

So what do you think? Is Google all-systems-go on a Nexus 5, or do you expect that "Google Play" editions of flagship phones will be the way to go in the future? Tell us in the comments section below.