Both of those phones suck. Never get an LG phone so that's already out of the question. The Gnex is a great phone, but its already sort off old. But what makes it suck is that the Galaxy Nexus is not a Nexus phone on Verizon really, they don't get their timely updates and you have to wait for Verizon to push for the OTA(You would probably get JellyBean for it in November), so I don't really find it worth it as the only good thing about it is that it gets updated fast, but not for this case and the hardware is outdated. I suggest getting the Galaxy S3, the phone is already running on ICS and it has amazing hardware.
If you get a Nexus to wait for OTA updates, you're doing it wrong. Yes, You can wait for the OTA updates and get the most Google-ized experience possible, or you could just find a custom stock rom the day/day after a new Android version is released and still have the same experience. I've been running JellyBean on my VZW Nexus since the day after the first day of I/O, and for that matter, it's actually been custom roms the entire time. AOKP is pushing out JB alphas, CyanogenMod Team is pushing out CM10 alphas, Paranoid Android has had alphas for a while, and there's ones by Team Vicious, Team BAMF, and Team Horizon, to name a few.
The way I see it, at least, if you get a Nexus device
and you know your way around a computer decently enough, you're not getting it to be "just a smartphone", because there are tons of other ones out there, and yes, at this point, ones with even better specs, like the GS3. But the modability of these is unparallelled, and the development scene for it is HUGE. (Plus, the $100 price tag on it now is nice, considering it used to be a $300 phone)
I plan on sticking with my VZW GNex when my contract is up depending on what else it out there.
OP, to make a remark on each of your points:
-The newer Nexi have nicer screens than the older model ones, from what I've seen. Mine, which I've had for half a year, has dark streaks running down the display (and has since I got it), which I read was a fairly common issue to the AMOLED screens. My dad just got one, and had it replaced because he got a defective one, and both screens were flawless. Me, it never really bugged me, and it's only visible on certain white/grey screens.
-The CPU is easily overclockable on this and runs very stable.
-The 32GB, which afaik is all that VZW sells, has been more than enough for me. Shooting 1080p video with it fills it up fairly quickly though.
-On the topic of my dad's defective one, related to the 4G signal, you shouldn't have any dropouts with it in places you don't usually have them. My dad was getting dropouts like crazy. Exchanged it for a brand new one (not VZW's "Certified Like-New" because we were within the 14 days), and it works perfectly. Mine used to on and off, but has since stopped
-Like I had said, 4.1 Jellybean has been out for a while, and it's fantastic
-Battery life is pretty crappy if you use it a fair bit throughout the day. I got
one of these yesterday, though - I'm going 16 and a half hours so far with 32% left with moderate usage throughout the day, whereas the stock battery was getting around 9 hours of moderate to heavy use. The added thickness and weight is actually nice with that extended battery. Also, samsung does make an official extended battery, but it only gives you ~15% more capacity. The Hyperion one pretty much doubles it.
-Rear camera is very nice on it in good lighting, front camera isn't great, nor is it on pretty much any phone.
-Yes, the Nexus doesn't have Gorilla Glass, but it does have unbranded fortified glass, which is what Gorilla Glass is, except branded by Corning.
I love my Nexus.
I agree with Jakob though - LG phones suck. I went through 3 LG enV phones, my dad went through 3, my mom's spontaneously died for no reason, despite taking very good care of it. Has yet to happen to any of us with a Samsung phone.
