Made the jump from N5X to Pixel after I got the bootlooping issue.
What can I do with the pixel over and above the N5X? Pretty much have the same layout, so it's a prettier N5X currently with a nicer camera. But I'm sure there's more to it that I haven't found yet.
Yes, I agree that the hardware is better looking than the Nexus and has a nicer camera. Battery life I believe is also better and screen display is very nice too.
But the real improvements are to the software, esp the overall responsiveness.
I have found that I spend much more time talking to my Pixel XL than I ever did with any prior Nexus phone. In the past perhaps 10% of my "input" was by voice. Now I find I am getting close to 40-50%: voice to text is amazing---emails, messages, etc.
I also own Chromecast, Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect and Google Home, having recently installed Google WiFi. The amount of "intelligence" built into these devices is extremely impressive. Small example: when I ask Google Home a question with my Pixel nearby, the question is answered by voice from Home with the Pixel knowing Home is nearby and my preferred means of oral response. In other words, Google is getting all its devices to sync with each other extremely well.
I appreciate you can do many of the same things with your Nexus 5 now that Google Assistant is built into the software but I would expect you will find the overall responsiveness and tendency to try new things, many linked to voice, with your Pixel more readily than with your Nexus.
I saw this link earlier today. Seems Google is placing a huge bet on voice technology:
http://fortune.com/2017/04/19/google-opens-up-speech-recognition/