Window shopping the Mac and iOS app stores from PCs/Androids/other non-Apple ecosystems

As a Mac owner at around 2018, I was considering my first smartphone to be some form of iPhone probably the cheapest one I can afford probably going through OWC to get "new old stock."


There was one very important thing that I had to make sure I was able to do, and that was stereoscopic videography on my phone.


I tried to look up to see if the commercial is correct that "there's an app for that" but apparently the only way I found you could look up more details in the iOS store was if you actually owned an iOS device. You couldn't even thoroughly research it except through third party sources, even on a Macintosh.


When I call customer service I said I want to make sure there's an app for something I want to do and we tried to find a aay to search the iOS App Store, it and couldn't based on the fact that I couldn't access the iOS network, even with just the Macintosh.


Unfortunately for Apple, one of the people from one of the Android phone makers, specifically Motorola, actually talked to me, searched their store and said yes we do have an app that lets you use twin external cameras as stereoscopic 3D cameras. I actually bought it and used it. And it says what it does and it does what it says.


The weirdest thing is that you can't window Shop for apps on iOS or Macintosh if you don't have an iOS device or Macintosh, respectively.


Maybe there should be an option in the Apple store says "See if there's an app for that." If you want people to make the move from PC to Mac as well as Android to iOS then you should make it as easy as possible and as transparent as possible that you could do the same things, whether PC or Mac, iOS or Android the functionality is basically the same.


But if Apple truly is the easier to use ecosystem that just works no matter how you think, that doesn't require a programmer's brain to understand it, yet would work perfectly fine with a programmer's brain if that is the brain you're currently carrying, I could do the most basic stuff a lot easier than the PC / Android stuff. Then a strategy would be "if iPhone does the same thing your current phone does but a lot easier then wouldn't it make sense to try it for one generation?"


Trust me my first phone would have been an iPhone SE 2 if I could have guaranteed I could do stereoscopic videography with an external USB dongle of twin cameras that attaches to the main phone.


As fate would have it, I learned the Android language instead, yet I may consider going to iOS if someone could guarantee there is a stereoscopy program that uses twin external cameras, along with a similarly priced item to the SE2 with today's phone market. A mid-range Motorola cost $300 and an SE2 at the time cost $400.


Out of the four quarters of combined phone and computer operating systems populations, I'm probably in the least populated quarter: the Mac / Android quarter.


I noticed the Google Sheets program on a phone is kind of buggy and awkward for user of Apple Numbers. The way Google Sheets saves to the cloud always makes it tough to reverse if you mess up in some way.


I am aware that Macintosh time machine takes physical snapshots every 60 seconds of applications you're currently running now so that if there's a power failure when you boot it up you don't have to type everything all over again just the last minute before the power went out.


If I could guarantee a stereoscopy program on an Apple, not only can my iPhone owing friends cooperate with me and getting multiple angles, but certain administrative things in my mini golf tournaments that I organize would be easier with Apple Numbers versus Google Sheets.


Like for example our golf tournament formats is first to win two holes wins and in order to keep with skill gaming regulations nothing can be random therefore people have to choose their favorite holes and I have to organize them in a spreadsheet, and Google Sheets is horrible at re-sorting columns withing losing the original data integrity.


The next time there is a budget iPhone that's comparable to a mid grade Android I may make the jump next time if there is such a thing as a stereoscopic external twin camera app



Earlier Mac models

Posted on Oct 1, 2023 2:17 PM

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Window shopping the Mac and iOS app stores from PCs/Androids/other non-Apple ecosystems

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