LG to make next Google phone: report

Following the success of the Nexus 4 handset, the South Korean phonemaker has been selected by Google to build the next Android reference device -- the appropriately named Nexus 5.

Following the success of the Nexus 4 handset, the South Korean phonemaker has been selected by Google to build the next Android reference device -- the appropriately named Nexus 5.

Motorola had been widely tipped to be the next Nexus phone maker, after all the company was recently bought by Google but, according to the Korea Times, LG will continue where it left off and is already hard at work developing the follow-up to the Nexus 4 handset, which was officially unveiled in November.

However, the article reveals that as well as another Nexus-branded handset, LG is trying to build on its partnership with Google in order to gain a greater involvement with Google TV, the search giant's smart TV and set-top box platform for supporting apps, web content and enabling the second screen experience. Like its biggest direct competitors in the sector, Samsung and Sony, LG has invested heavily in building a smart TV platform and on marketing the technology. But so far, uptake has been slow. According to the report, executives from LG and Google have discussed the development and launch for a Google-LG OLED TV and of LG becoming involved in the ongoing Google Glass project.

Nexus devices are considered flagship products by the Android community in that they present the operating system in its purest form -- without third party apps, customized interfaces or features installed by network operators -- installed on a handset with the best possible hardware specifications to support it.

The consensus within the industry had been that the next Nexus device would be built by Motorola; the company has yet to launch a product co-developed with Google, despite being taken over by tech company in 2012. However, a new range of co-designed and developed handsets are expected to hit the shelves later this year, one of which is code named the X-Phone which, if the hints dropped by a number of Google executives are to be believed, is poised to redefine the concept of the smartphone.