For those that are curious if the base pixel 9 is worth it or not, my honest opinion after roughly 36 hours is as follows:

Build quality/ overall "feel" of the device in hand: couldn't be better TBH, it's everything I've been hoping for in the last few pixel devices. Ofc time will tell if it holds up in terms of durability. I work outside in the southern humidity/ heat so it gets rested fairly well in that regard

Cellular connectivity/ modem: definite improvement over the 6,7 and 8 (had the non pro models for each generation).. I never had that big of an issue with spotty service but in all the places I frequent, it's had notably better reception everywhere i.e. more bars in the top right corner

Speaker volume/ clarity: I never see this mentioned on here but my 8 was awful in terms of how loud it would get, at least imo. The 9 actually has a loud output(for a phone ofc) and sounds clear too. This was one of the biggest improvements related to my experience anyway.

Overheating: I've done my best to get it to overheat, but nothing yet. Never had much of an issue on my previous pixels except for when it (referring to the 8) was in direct sunlight then it would feel warm, but not overbearingly so like my pixel 7 would get at random indoors with the AC and not even charging.

Overall I'm happy with this device and hope it continues to deliver, I only got the base 9 due to the best buy trade in value for my iPhone 12 that only applied to the base 9 and not the pro models. Otherwise I wanted to test the smaller pro out, but besides not having vapor cooling this is literally the same phone, oh and minor camera upgrades/ Gemini advanced

Also, it's not like me to post about phones or anything really but I had to share my experience bc I see so much hate for the pixels. I almost feel bad for how miserable some of these folks seem when just talking about their cell phones, I can only imagine how they are otherwise in life lol but I digress.

TLDR: even the base pixel is a great phone thus far, so if the price difference is the selling point for you I wouldn't hesitate.