I think what we are starting to see is the next generation of improved all-in-one recorders. Generally these all-in-ones with the mics are definitely are targeted to a ENG user, BUT SONY gave a little nod to the field recorder with the digi-in, let's hope that they follow thru. I don't mind the built in mics, they are handy, like others have said, if the need arises to plop it down on a table or pull the old "Statue of Liberty" to capture an event. Maybe if they made that a modular component, then it would be a killer (not to mention a SONY specialty item, which they love to market with their products).
I want to see some metering for the remote and some transport controls, any photos of the said "Remote Commander" remote? When paired with a Lemosax or vms02ib, this will be a Schoeps st**thers dream machine .
I actually am glad that SONY is leading the wave on the next gen. We would have been nowhere without them in the 90's, 80's and 70's. They always had affordable and highly functional recorders.