Basically you couldn’t type words because the center of the keyboard quit recognizing touch.

Yes it did:

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Pixel-4a-Unlocked-Smartphone/dp/B08CFSZLQ4

My screen sensor died on that one.

Honestly I’m done with pixels after the 6. I loved the 4 and the 5, but they got rid of the fingerprint scanner in lieu of the screen reader version which fucking sucks. Among other complaints (including shorter battery life and increased charge times… like wtf?!) Google services in general just continue eroding.