[Google Pixel 6 Pro] suquet.paul:
Here's my two cents;

I've been on Android since the HTC H1/Dream. Flashed the heck out of it and eventually got myself a DroidX. From there, I went all into the Nexus line. After that turned into Pixel, I stayed with pixel phones. I like to test phones so over the course of time, I had the OnePlus One (loved that phone). I still have my OnePlus 2, tried several phones from HTC LG; used a Samsung s10 for a good while and I still keep some of my favorite phones, they still all work and I still love them and try to keep them updated with custom AOSP roms; my Nexus 5 is still alive and well, the OnePlus X is still fantastic to hold, the Palm phone is an amazing form factor, the Essential PH-1 is incredible to this day (minus the **** cameras), preferring smaller phones, the Xperia XZ1 Compact is awesome, I just got rid of my old OnePlus 5t and both my brother and my best friend are deep into OnePlus since the One.

But I always end up coming back to a Pixel.

Like someone already said, the cameras are fabulous, but they are definitely not "the best", however, in my experience, they ARE the most consistently close to the best. At the time, the Samsung Galaxy s10 had, arguably, a better camera than the pixel of the era (Pixel 3 or Pixel 4, depending on the date, since pixels release late in the year) but it was never as consistent (with me). With the pixel, I always knew I could double tap the power button and take a shot in just a few seconds, and the picture would come out consistently great. People can get amazing shots with a OnePlus, but it requires more effort than the consistency of the pixel.

I don't really care all that much about picture quality, despite what it may seem, but I think it is a good reflection of essentially everything else. Nothing is really THE most important part of a phone for me except for "feel", and my golden standard is the Nexus 5. Perfect size. The Pixel 3 is also a great feeling device. Sure, RAM is important, but in this day and age, for most people, I'd say 6GB or more is good enough. Less than 128GB of storage is not worth getting at this point. Fast charging is cool, just like wireless charging, but a battery that'll live throughout the day is a necessity (this is one thing Pixels have NEVER been able to excel at, for example, hopefully the 6 changes that).

Then there's the OS, and what comes with it (like, updates). Samsung has gotten MUCH better. Their Touchwiz was absolutely atrocious. But OneUI is not bad. It seems like most manufacturers are going now for a more muted skin than they used to (MotoBlur was pretty bad, HTC Sense was pretty, but heavy, TouchWiz was awful, Miui was an iOS copy) so we're far better off now, but it's easy to misrepresent how awesome it feels to receive updates in time. Google announces a new OS, and you've got it. All the new goodies (mostly). While on any other manufacturer, you MIGHT get it in 3 months, you might not get it at all.

I've been on Android 12 since beta 3 a couple of months ago, on a Pixel 3.

I skipped the 5, sold my 4 and went down to the 3, which still works great. I am hoping the 6 is not huge. Needless to say, I preordered the 6. 256gb. I personally think they did a very compelling job. Sure, it's got last years 5g hardware. Sure, there's no "small" version. Sure, the SoC is not exactly better than what Qualcomm puts out. But I think by now, I've made the point that a phone is more than the sum of its parts. And it seems, imo, that Google found a pretty good balance, with a competitive and consistently great camera, a fantastic feeling phone, at a reasonable price.