I'm running 13 and it's been great. I do think overall that Android is going in the right direction.
Material You in particular was a great decision. I love colour this feature adds so much colour to every app. Talk about taking customisation to the next level. π
The lock screen customisation in 14 completes that transition.
I also think the improving Google Assistant by adding Bard is a move in the right direction. As long as they roll it out to all phones, irrespective of age. After all, Assistant runs in the cloud, not on the phone so any device should be able to just it.
I am concerned about Google but releasing enough Android features into AOSP. For example the colour picker you use to choose a colour from your wallpaper they originally kept as proprietary forcing OEM's to write their own. Only later did they release it to AOSP because they released OEM's weren't getting it right.
I believe all new Android features most be in AOSP. Only Google specific stuff shouldn't eg Google apps and gcam.
I have to assume that the Pixel 8 getting 7 years of support means that Android won't be getting heavier in future, so that it will remain fast 7 years from now.
Which is good news. Android 14 is supposed to be even faster and more efficient they say, but we'll see. There are still some bugs from what I've read so OEM's will need time to adapt and optimise it. It will be a few months before we really know.