From my experience it was quite usable on Pixel 8a, but I did experience problems.
For context, I use it mostly for web development. It runs a desktop environment with VNC, so I'm able to connect and run software like a browser. I don't develop on the device, but instead connect to a remote machine. Although the browser takes a few seconds to start, I didn't have any issues doing frontend development or doing web searches and reading docs, but I tend to be careful regarding the number of open tabs.
The Terminal app does crash from time to time. It can crash after 15 minutes, but I've also had it running for about 2 hours without issues. I'm not bothered by this as I just reconnect and continue where I left.
The reinstall is not needed every day. When I run the app, sometimes it says there was an unrecoverable error and suggests to reinstall. I ignore this, because it's a timing issue; the app was slow to start. Usually, if I run it again after closing the activity, it starts normally. The same VM has been running for me without a need to reinstall for a few months.
The battery usage is not too bad. I use an external display and make the phone screen black during this time. The battery gets depleted at a rate between 5% and 20% per hour, but this is only for active usage. I haven't been running it all the time in the background.
For context, I use it mostly for web development. It runs a desktop environment with VNC, so I'm able to connect and run software like a browser. I don't develop on the device, but instead connect to a remote machine. Although the browser takes a few seconds to start, I didn't have any issues doing frontend development or doing web searches and reading docs, but I tend to be careful regarding the number of open tabs.
The Terminal app does crash from time to time. It can crash after 15 minutes, but I've also had it running for about 2 hours without issues. I'm not bothered by this as I just reconnect and continue where I left.
The reinstall is not needed every day. When I run the app, sometimes it says there was an unrecoverable error and suggests to reinstall. I ignore this, because it's a timing issue; the app was slow to start. Usually, if I run it again after closing the activity, it starts normally. The same VM has been running for me without a need to reinstall for a few months.
The battery usage is not too bad. I use an external display and make the phone screen black during this time. The battery gets depleted at a rate between 5% and 20% per hour, but this is only for active usage. I haven't been running it all the time in the background.