How do you run WhatsApp or Signal without a smartphone? Pretty hard.
If your answer is "don't use them", then you're not living in a country where the vast majority of communications are done on WhatsApp or Signal, good for you I guess.
Yes that's fair. I have a an old iPhone without a sim that I use as my master for those apps, but I keep it in a drawer since the desktop apps work fine. Funny enough the phone the app is installed on doesn't have to be the same phone you use to register by number, so the number I registered with is my flip phone
Access to Signal and Bitwarden are the only two apps I really need daily that keep me on a smartphone. I have tried using a feature phone in the last couple years, but honestly I might as well just not have a phone at that point as almost all my communication is via Signal.
Well honestly that's part of the flip phone lifestyle, if someone doesn't want to call me, that's fine, they can send me an email. We don't have to bring Google or Apple into this relationship, it's a choice people make because the prefer texting and being available to everyone they ever met 24/7
Doesn't really make sense in a conversation about security (the HN post was referencing security).
Traditional desktop OSes (Windows, MacOS, traditional Linux distros) are just at an entirely different level than modern mobile OSes (Android OSes, iOS) and ChromeOS. They also often run on less secure hardware, especially compared to a Pixel.
They don't publicize it because they'd rather sell all the data they don't have already through your payments and bank movements but many still send you a dedicated device if you mention you don't have a smartphone.
If your answer is "don't use them", then you're not living in a country where the vast majority of communications are done on WhatsApp or Signal, good for you I guess.