I find the dedicated remote the Google TV ones have quite handy, and it makes it a bit more of a tv-like experience when I’m binge watching stuff.
As for extra features, the remote has a microphone so you can access the Google assistant. They’re also full Android devices so you can install apps directly onto them such as games and use the remote as a controller, though I’m not sure how many are supported since I haven’t tried that yet. Perhaps more usefully if you have a suitable USB hub and webcam you can use it for video calls, or plug in a harddrive and watch videos from that. Other than that if you’re happy with second generation one, I don’t think you’re really missing out on much.
I have - two actually, for different beta releases. Looks like I’ll have to open a third stone it’s still here.