Jiminy, folks. I wanted to read the entire thread before posting, but every day I'd load up the page and find more to read.
From full-frame-vs-APS-C debates to flippy screens to soap cameras to interpreting pixelated bottoms, this is a doozy of a thread! I'll post my predictions in a separate post, but dang, this is exhausting.
---------- Post added 10-14-19 at 10:58 PM ----------
Ok... my (mostly unjustified) predictions for K-new:
1. The headline feature will be the ability to shoot in mirrorless or mirrored mode. Ricoh has been arguing for years that mirrorless is a little silly since the mirror can flip up and become "mirrorless" in their existing cameras. I think this camera will finally be the one to do it. In regular DSLR mode, the user will get a standard optical viewfinder. In mirrorless mode, they can use either the LCD screen or an electronic viewfinder (hence the eye sensor). Whether this works through some sort of optical overlay or even just a physical screen that swaps out with the mirror, I have no idea.
I also think that a portion of this functionality was quietly used in a trial-balloon fashion in the K-P. See, for example, a very recent post regarding
electronic shutter capability in the K-P. Additional credit to posts 1709 and 1791 for their reference to these ideas.
2. Contrary to the current semi-consensus, I predict that the actual model will have a flippy screen. I think Ricoh is planning to debut a new hinge/connection system and are just being coy with the flat prototype. The infamous "divot"/"curve" at the lower right of the screen is consistent with several past models, with and without flippies, so I don't think that it gives away any info either way. The asymmetry of the screen suggests that something else will be going on, though.
Alrighty. Flame away.