Personally i tend to think that Prince has used his weekdays in Las Vegas (the days on which he was not performing at the Rio) to record the new album with his live-band.

I also think this new album will have more of a live feel then the last two. Noticing his use of a horn section in Vegas and other recent performances, i think there will be quit a lot of horn parts on 'Planet Earth'.

Finally, i think Prince decided not to play (many of) his newer tracks in Vegas to keep 'us' guessing, i think he wants to surprise us with his new songs.
I mean: i take him his words for now that this will be his 'last' album for a period of time (3,4,5 years? who knows?), so i think he carefully orchestrated the building up to the release of this album.

Anyone else shares the same thoughts?

Adding, most plausible 'band' for this new album IMO

Drums - Cora
Bass - Josh
Guitars and lead vocals - Prince
Keys - Renato and Morris Hayes
Background vocals - Shelby
Horns - Mike Phillips, a new hornplayer replacing Maceo
Other instruments, sound-effects - Prince

It's great to know it's actually on the way.

It would be nice to not have any history or knowledge of the songs. I've ended up enjoying the less quality "vault" versions better than the releases.

As far as his break is concerned, who knows. He might be bored within 3 months and have to get back to the grind.

Concerning his 'break', i have severe doubts it will be really young (in terms of years).

I mean, some insiders (including Alan Leeds) have stated differend times that Prince does lack on thing: patience...lol

But who knows, maybe his supposed travels around the world lead to new, surprising Prine-music, using musical elements from the countries he will visit.

Oops, typo... 'young' should be 'long' of course.