ANDROID MARKET: New Review "Sort by" Option

[Rico ANDROID]

The Android Market has addded a "Sort By" option to the Reviews tab. You can now view the reviews first that matters to you and your decision to download an app. This should be helpful.

Categories are:
1. Newest Review to oldest
2. Ratings (5 Star to 1)
3. Helpfulness (if flagged)

 

[Rico ANDROID]

UPDATE: the sorting optioin seem to be for browsing online only (and not the market app installed on the phones).

You will only have the sort-by option when browsing the market from a computer.

 

[sohguanh]

Just a point to note, reviews can be rigged. I have been getting request from other developers to put review on each other apps in Android market to boost our app popularity. I did not take up the offer but it does not mean this practise is not going on in Android market. Likewise for download too, developers download each other apps to boost each other app popularity again.

I hope there will be some way to curb such abuses which is hard to detect I guess.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Just a point to note, reviews can be rigged. I have been getting request from other developers to put review on each other apps in Android market to boost our app popularity. I did not take up the offer but it does not mean this practise is not going on in Android market. Likewise for download too, developers download each other apps to boost each other app popularity again.

I hope there will be some way to curb such abuses which is hard to detect I guess.

I sort of thought there were an "inner circle" rate-boosting between developers.. I knew they "fluff" their own reviews and downloads, so I try to use apps with thousands of dls over a few ...thinking the few are probably fudged anyway....

Good info.. But I do like the ability to sort by rating instead of hitting a one star every 3 or4 postings... Now they are all sorted together and I can compare them all one after the other consecutively.

 

[sohguanh]

I sort of thought there were an "inner circle" rate-boosting between developers.. I knew they "fluff" their own reviews and downloads, so I try to use apps with thousands of dls over a few ...thinking the few are probably fudged anyway....

That is where you are wrong. Do you know there are dedicated review/download work done by companies? You pay them some monies, they get their workers to do review/download up till a number you have paid for. E.g every 100 downloads, they charge you $X etc etc. This is very rife in certain countries (I do not want to name them).

So think again before you think the thousands of downloads are legitimate or not. It is a booming underground industry.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

That is where you are wrong. Do you know there are dedicated review/download work done by companies? You pay them some monies, they get their workers to do review/download up till a number you have paid for. E.g every 100 downloads, they charge you $X etc etc. This is very rife in certain countries (I do not want to name them).

So think again before you think the thousands of downloads are legitimate or not. It is a booming underground industry.

LOL you just contradicted yourself...remind me not to purchase or install apps with your name on it..

 

[Rico ANDROID]

"Hey AF community!
The latest update to the online version of the Android Market has made it easier for you to review user responses.

NOW! we can sort the reviews by 3 distinct categories. This will make it convenient to read "first" the type of user input that means most to us in deciding to install the app or not.

Categories are:
1. Newest Review to oldest
2. Ratings (5 Star to 1)
3. Helpfulness (if flagged)

 

[CoreyOli]

LOL you just contradicted yourself...remind me not to purchase or install apps with your name on it..

He didn't contradict himself at all... he simply advised us of seedy practices used by some developers.... not sure why you quoted that stuff in case of editing... he didn't say anything incriminating...

 

[Rico ANDROID]

He didn't contradict himself at all... he simply advised us of seedy practices used by some developers.... not sure why you quoted that stuff in case of editing... he didn't say anything incriminating...

I may be missing something here, but in reference to his statement advising of seedy practices of some developers, thus, saying the sort-by is not really a useful tool.

A follow up was posted (see link) supporting his comment that it was thought that some numbers were 'fudged' and not as accurate as reported due the practice that he first brought up....then he followed up, stating such practice or thoughts are false .. so which is it? It doesnt matter.. thats not what the topic was about anyway.

http://androidforums.com/3553327-post5.html

Taking the post back on track by stating the sort-by is a good option added to the market so to give us a tool to view first what we prefere to read so to make easier choices...

 

[jerofld]

I don't see it that way. He never condoned it or spoke highly of it, just mentioned specifics. Granted, it may lead to a developer seeking out this service because they now know about it, but I have a feeling that the people who provide these services advertise more in developer forums. Not end user forums, and a developer is likely to hear about it there. Like the Google Code website, or contacting the publishing account's email (every app has a link to a Gmail address), etc.

Also, getting back to the point, it's great that they added this. One thing I like about Google is that their products may not have all the nice features of everything else, but you're sure they'll get them some day.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Thank you Jerofld. thats exactly what my initial response to the poster was supporting, that the practice may exist and, nonetheless or regardless of such, the feature is still a usefull tool. The tagent occurred afterward, but again, thanks for guiding the topic back to its purpose.. sharing the feature added to the market online.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

The online version of the Android Market has added yet more sorting options when reveiwing an app before installing. The User Rating line chart is updated with "hot links" for filtering. . Now we have the following options:


Star Rating: Click the Star Rating and view "only" reviews within the star rate category

Versions: Click the drop list to include all or latest version in the filtered review

Device: You can view only reviews related to your device or "all" filtered reviews.

Sort By: Finally you can view all reviews sorted by rating where all 5's are grouped, 4's grouped and so on