Currious about why both a super small format and a digital input are important to many who have posted..
Using a digital input implies using extra equipment as well such as external preamps/AD-converters. In that case a 'small as possible' form factor would seem less important to my thinking. Sure, less size and weight is good, but need it really be as small as possible? Throw in the desire for XLR connnectors and phantom power requirements and it becomes difficult to fit it all in a very small device.
I see two, seperate classes of device:
1) Slightly larger recorders with all the goodies- XLR's, phantom power, SPDIF, sync.
2) A small pocket recoder which assumes the elimination of all other boxes, but still supports external mics. (that would seem to imply including XLRs and phantom, but that makes the thing much bigger, especially so with multi-channel support, so sufficient PIP is a decent compromise for pocketability).
That is pretty much how the market has segmented already. Within that framework, a manufacturer can play the low price game or the feature game (or both). Multichannel recording capability in a qualilty handheld is one feature I've yet to see exploited and would love to see. Seems like an opportunity to me. I suppose digital input is scarce in handhelds too, but just seems less compelling to me.