Stunning AF demo of the R8 by the Fro

I would expect the battery life to be longer than on the RP. Newer chips are generally more power-efficient. This is why the R6ii gets better battery life than the original R6 on the same battery. Still, packing an extra battery definitely wouldn't hurt.

It seems clear that Canon is integrating the same/similar AF capabilities into all their new cameras. And that's great, because the Canon AF system is really quite good. I've had a very positive experience with the R5 and R7. Of course, it is sensor-dependent, so not all Canon cameras can be exactly the same. But they are pretty close and all pretty good.

The R8 is an interesting camera. I don't plan on buying one, but the tradeoffs are actually pretty minimal overall. Yes, it doesn't have IBIS... but for many situations, IBIS is not that much of a plus (sports, portraits, really most things with people who might move). IBIS is wonderful for landscapes, though. I love to turn down the shutter speed and ISO on the R5 for a nice handheld landscape. Still, this is not absolutely essential.

On the other hand, the lack of a full mechanical shutter — and the viability of what is offered instead — is a step forward and a step back, for me. Call it my perfectionistic tendency, but I still prefer MS for many applications. Avoiding the possibility of weirdness with bokeh (from EFCS) or rolling shutter/flicker is a major plus. I would like to have MS until/unless global shutters advance to become the top FF sensors. But EFCS is good for situations where you want to avoid shake, but still want full-bit depth images/to avoid some ES downsides, and ES gets you the highest frame rates (though it's better on the newer cameras than on the R5 for rolling shutter). In short... it's still good to have all three options. Having only two is a downside. But it's not a dealbreaker anymore.

And then yes, the R8 is missing some of the other features of the higher-end cameras (like dual slots, or the ProRes RAW video capabilities from the R6ii). Still, it's very capable and a great competitor at that price, imo.