A recent patent application is suggesting that Google is going to replace the notch with an under-display front-facing camera in future Pixel phones.
I personally prefer the (extremely ugly) iPhone notch with better sensors, than under the screen. Apple does very well despite of prioritizing this.
My preference over a notch is still a thin bezel like in the Pixel 3.
I prefer this over aesthetics. Especially after putting a pretty phone on a case. (The case already takes away all the aesthetics).
I was never touching the brightness settings in the older nexus/pixels and I really miss that. They were much better catching and distinguishing different low light levels. I also compared the Pixel 4 Vs 5 using devcheck tool to test the ambient light sensor, and the under screen sensor can't see shit at night.