It’s not updates. I took care of those myself. It’s fully up to date in all ways, just sitting there restarting.

These both seem like known issues with the pixel 8. Can someone tell me if the pixel 9 is better in the reliability department?

This already exists. There’s a banana (in Vietnam, but I’d assume not just there) that’s smallish and rounder than most others which has a distinctly sour taste that reminds me strongly of apple. Ymmv, taste being a very subjective thing.