My Essential is still working like a champ. But I just passed the 2 year mark with it so I'm feeling like I have license to get something new. I'm a consumer, I wanna consume.

I'm a little skeptical about how they're turning ALL security over to the facial recognition, taking away the fingerprint sensor. My bank is pretty small, so who knows if they'll ever get around to adding that option to their app. And I don't want to be forced into typing in passwords again.

It kinda seems like the ingredients of a classic Google error. They introduced a lot of new hardware to make the facial recognition (and radar) work, and that's fine for THAT phone, but Google is trying to build an ecosystem with multiple hardware makers. They can't just switch up the technology at the drop of a hat like Apple can.

But I'm tired of needing to take an SLR with me if I ever want good photos. And I'm honestly interested in the pixel's low-light photography options. I like low-light photos and occasional astrophotography, so despite my reservations (and the fact that I don't NEED a new phone), I'm curious.