LG Nexus 5 pic: is this our next Nexus smartphone?

When we’ve been talking about the Nexus 5 over the last few weeks, the conversation’s mainly focused on manufacturing and technical details: who’ll make the phone, and what kind of hardware it might see used. For a brief moment, we were looking at the possibility of a Motorola Nexus 5, but rumors have once again steered back towards LG. Today, we break from all that technical talk to check out some imagery, with a pic arriving that may just reveal an in-development LG Nexus 5.

So, what do we have here? Well, if it is based on the G2, it sure looks like those rear-mounted controls didn’t last, because here we see them back along an edge – along with some serious gaps in the casing. That suggests a removable back panel, and might even hint at a removable battery.

However, this image bears little in common with the most recent description we’ve heard of an LG-made Nexus 5 – though even that seemed a bit unsure of itself, combining design elements from the Nexus 4 and new Nexus 7.

We also wonder what’s going on with that bottom edge, and have heard suggestions that the blue bit there could be obscuring a stylus. It’s just too hard to make anything out clearly, leaving us with questions.

Given the absence of any stand-out Nexus branding, we’re not quite ready to jump on this as a definite Nexus 5 sighting, but if we see this design show up again, we might well be changing our tune.