On page 203 of the core rules there is a drawing of a character holding a blaster pistol, in your opinion which armor would you say that is, if any?

Look at the Padded Armor drawing on p. 168 of the Core Rulebook. The shoulder pads sort of evoke that, and I may be seeing leather gauntlets. So Padded Armor is my pic.

I wondered if it could also be described as armored clothing. On one hand it looks not padded enough for padded armor, onthe other its not covert enough for armored clothing (if you go by the description it might fit the bill except the 'panels' are not hidden). The bands may even be just decorative.

Could be either padded armor or armored clothing. The fluff text in the book for armored clothing indicates that it's usually not obvious the garment is armored, but there's nothing saying the GM has to stick to that, and could very well have NPCs or PCs running around in heavy clothing with obvious bits of armor, which in turn has the same mechanical function as armored clothing (+1 Soak, +1 Defense)

or it could be Padded armor with the Gadgeteer Improved Armor Master upgrade...

Most likely it's just cool looking armor, and don't think to hard about it.