Nikon has officially announced the release of their new 10MP follow-up to the 4 month old D40, which is 6MP. Talk about short product cycles! It’s $799 (US) retail with the 18-55 DX lens. You can already pre-order a D40x at Amazon.
The tech specs are here for your review. Note the 3 frames per second, 1/200s flash sync and continued limitation of autofocus with AI-S and AF-S lenses. If you want to browse the brochure, it’s here (.pdf).

DPReview has a detailed hands-on review of the D40x. You can find several different shots of the D40x from various angles and showing off the body features in the product gallery.  Ken Rockwell has a nice preview too and points out why you should buy the D40 over the D40x or just jump up to the D80 instead.
In addition to the D40x, Nikon has also announced a new lens: the Nikon AF-S DX VR 55-200mm IF-ED lens. That’s right, another VR lens to choose from. Nikon is making quite a stable of VR lenses now. What’s most impressive to me though is that the retail price is $250! Don’t believe me? Read the press release.

I’m really wondering about the Nikon D3 now.