Is this a press shot of the Nexus 5? No.

Like anything in life, once a crack or leak appears in a barrier, invariably, more cracks and leaks will emerge and it seems that we might be on the cusp of all sorts of rumor and innuendo.

Having said that, a tipster slipped us what he or she called an “unofficial” press image of the yet-to-be announced Nexus 5. We have already heard rumors of LG building the next Nexus handset, and like most rumors there is conflicting information.

Nonetheless, we feel comfortable passing along the image and the information that came with it because, while some information is conflicting, the differences really only add to the discussion overall of what might be in the works. LG’s own Senior Vice President is on the record saying that the Nexus 4 is “the first of many devices to come” so rumors about the next Nexus device coming from LG are not too much of a stretch.

Specifications are another story, we have received tips that we shared with you earlier today, indicating a 5-inch 1080p display, 3,140mAh battery and Snapdragon 600 CPU and Nikon branding associated with the camera. The specifications that arrived with this press shot say a 5.2-inch IPS display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 at 2.1GHz, 16MP camera, 2,900mAh battery and 3GB of RAM. We have shared our skepticism about the 3GB RAM rumor, but we are just passing it along to you.

On to the press image, it looks like a cross between a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the LG Nexus 4. The “X” in the “nexus” logo on the bottom of the device will apparently blink as a notification light when messages coming (just like the Galaxy Nexus does). What is telling about the image is the date and time on the display, May 15 is day one of the Google I/O developer conference. We can only speculate about the time, but 8:45 in the morning (Pacific time) would be a fine time to unveil some new technology for all of North America to see, be it in person or via live stream.

Another thing to consider is that the Nexus 4 has only been available for about four months, so it is worth reflecting on how rumor-hype can self-perpetuate. However, a new piece of hardware to ring in a new version of Android seems perfectly appropriate to us. How about you?

UPDATE:  Alas folks, sorry, the image is a fake.  The image is a shopped Caesar smartphone, model A9600, a Chinese 3G handset that has some up-to-date specs, but it is certainly no Nexus.