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Google Maps Receiving Tons of 1-Star Ratings Due to Lack of Changelog in Today’s Beefy 5.3.1 Update

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Update: Changelog! Now put those pitchforks down.

  1. See your Location History dashboard if you’ve enabled Location History for Latitude
  2. Check in at “Home” after setting a home location in Latitude
  3. Add your own aspects (e.g. service, music) about places when rating them
  4. Version 5.3.1: Fixes for Latitude’s automatic check-ins and “Manage your places”

Well isn’t this just about the weirdest thing we’ve seen from one of Google’s market apps? They’ve apparently issued an upgrade to Google Maps which clocks in at 5.3MB. What’s more is that no changelog is included – something that Google usually doesn’t forget – and there are no noticeable changes within the app itself. Thus, market raters are damning Google’s free navigation and maps utility to a plethora of 1-star ratings until they ‘fess up. We’ll certainly be contacting Google for a comment. [Thanks George!]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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44 Comments

  1. Give a monkey a typewriter and they write reviews for the market place apparently.

    1. Like it matters. It still has a overall 4 and 1/2 star rating. At the end of the day nothing has changed

      1. That’s the same mentality “if 1 person doesn’t vote, nothing will change” that 1 million people have. 1 star can do a lot if they piss off enough people.

  2. This has got to be one of the silliest things going on the market for some time. I’m used to the nonsense people write (I didn’t read the description that says this app/game doesn’t work on my phone so one star because it keeps force closing)

    And agree with the monkey/typewriter combination

  3. just because there is no change log doesnt mean you need to rate one of the best Android Apps out there 1 star.

  4. Most market commenters are complete and utter morons.

  5. im sure 99% of them were my fellow droid owning americans……. we are such dumb asses…..

  6. Heh, people use the rating system as if their 1 star is going to shut down the company or vastly decrease the number of people who use their application..
    I love reading the threats and other forms of childish b****ing and moaning because of not including a change log or lack of apps2sd.
    But the part that entertains me the most is the fact that many of these commenters may be full grown adults.

    It’s simple: either read the permissions needed if you’re worried, or wait a few days for the dev to post a change log – which inevitably, most do.

    1. They know what a change log is so they are smarter than most people. Unfortunately, while they have intelligence, they do not have wisdom or common sense.

      1. Unless they are just feeding on the dribble of others, which is quite possible.

  7. it would be a plus to see what has changed but seriously 1 star for that is stupid in my opinion. as long as the app is working to its full potental a change log doesnt affect the use of the app. ppl can be really picky well thats the kinda world we live in .

  8. your welcome :-)

  9. You guys don’t get it. Developers pay more attention to 1 star comments than 5 star comments. It shows up as a red flag on their ratings. That’s why people use it as a quick method to communicate. I know that you can also email the developer, but do you think that a large corporation like Google will actually read every single email they receive?

    1. Leaving a 1 star comment is *the* worst way to communicate. As a developer, I respond to every email and issue filed with my app. I also read the comments, but since I have no way of responding to them, I cannot fix problems. E.g. a user asked for a fix to an issue that I’ve only seen before on certain 3rd party ROMs. I don’t know what phone the user has, so I can’t update the app. Furthermore, there is already a setting available to use a workaround, and I can’t tell the user about it! In my opinion, this is one of the biggest problems with the market.

      Please please please people, leave developers feedback in the form they request (e.g. web site bug reports). If that is too much of a pain, please email. But don’t ask for help or fixes in the comments.

      (Yes, I could leave a comment myself and change it to respond to each newest comment, but then I’d lose the previous responses. Besides, how many people would even go back to look for a response?)

  10. If they can take the time to make the update available in the Market, they should be able to find time to post a change log. I’ve never been one to install an update just because it’s available. Without a change log, who knows what they’ve added or removed that I might object to. I guess that’s why I always backup apps before updating.

  11. LOL it was a minor bug fix of something that broke in the last major update. Google will just remove the reviews as spam

    1. I also marked all the changelog Ratings as spam, because they are pointless and stupid and abuse the app-review option.

  12. People are so mean in market comments. They give 1 star ratings for anything. Bad day at work? Blame the Fruit Ninja developers! Bought the cheapest, crappiest phone available? It’s Rovio’s fault! No changelog for an obviously minor bugfix release for an awesome app? 1STAR!!!!11

    1. Try reading the reviews for live wallpapers, loads of people who don’t even know what a live wallpaper is and try to run it like an app – “didn’t work, no launch icon” abound. Morons!

    2. Apps specific to foreign countries and so in their language also draw lots of “It’s in a foreign language, uninstall!” 1 star nonsense.
      I’ve got a Croatian radio app that plays Croatian radio stations and clearly says so in the description and there were people complaining that it was in Croatian -_-

    3. While most of those people are being petty; having a changelog is a common courtesy.. Some updates to apps can “make or break” the app. Just because it’s a big company, doesn’t make them prone to mistakes. I have installed updates to major apps that have completely broken the app and it’s functionality. Not knowing *what* was updated, can be very frustrating when trying to figure out why it’s not working.

      It can also remove a feature that made you like the app in the first place. If you don’t know what was just updated, why would you bother updating it then?

  13. Funniest one had to have been “Latest update certainly did not fix problem of screen not turning off during Navigation.” LOL. Wow, some people are truly born retarded.

    1. I think he might’ve referring to the bug where the screen turns back on almostimmediately if you force it off.

  14. seems to have fixed an issue I was having when trying to use Real-Time Updating. It was saying my wife’s version of maps didn’t support RTU but that issue seems to be fixed now. I appreciate it Google, just let everyone know what all you did and everyone will chill…

  15. Awesome. And now there’s a flood of fake good comments

    1. “fake” like my honest opinion opposing all those 1 star morons.

  16. Cool, I’m in that screenshot :) Any dev that fails to provide a changelog is looking for trouble. Some “updates” break things or add features that don’t work or correct a problem was wasn’t working previously – if people don’t know what they are installing (especially if they are paying a premium for a data plan), they should post a 1star rating as a sign of displeasure. Coming from Google, even something like “bug fixes” would have been enough.

    1. The stars are there to rate the app as a whole. If you’re upset about a lack of changelog, that at MOST would warrant dropping the overal rating you’d normally give it by 1 star (5 to a 4, 4 to a 1 etc). A 1 star rating would indicate the app is complete garbage. It’s people like you who really skew the integrity of a rating system.

      1. errr…typo… shoulda said “4 to a 3”

  17. Update:
    Update! We’ve pushed out a new release, version 5.3.1. This version should fix the Manage My Places and auto-checkins issues you’ve been reporting in this thread and elsewhere in the Forum.

    Please head to Android Market to download version 5.3.1, and, as always, let us know what you think!

    Cheers,
    Tom

  18. Recently Changed in this version
    *Version 5.3.1: fixes for latitude’s automatic check-ins and “manage your places”

    Did nobody else see this?

  19. I imagine those people are concerned that google is trying to slip something undesirable past them.

  20. $10 says they don’t make that mistake again ;)

  21. Too bad our phandroid developer(s) don’t asnwer emails. Still waiting for a fix to the Phandroid app. I find it very sad.

  22. From the Android Market-

    Recently changed in this version
    * See your Location History dashboard if you’ve enabled Location History for Latitude
    * Check in at “Home” after setting a home location in Latitude
    * Add your own aspects (e.g. service, music) about places when rating them
    * Version 5.3.1: Fixes for Latitude’s automatic check-ins and “Manage your places”

  23. Android Market needs a 25 word minimum just like Amazon

    1. I think they should take it a step further and put a spell-check filter on as well. If you have more than one or two misspelled words, comment rejected.

  24. Well unfortunately I can’t upgrade to Google Maps 5 on my HTC Desire because of the disk space it takes up (and limited space on the Desire). Why can’t they allow Apps to SD. Lame.

  25. ok….so what is a changelog ? and why does it have the uber-geeks panties in a bunch ? what i can tell u guys about the negative market reviews, i call it the internet age, give someone an open forum to write their opinions and they will take it to the extreme level. they think theyre publishing a doctorate or something. its the same problem on facebook…all of my “friends” posts are self serving, selfish, comments, and assume i care what theyre cooking for dinner, i dont. market reviewers are the dumbest of dumb, ive seen people give negative reviews because an app asked for too many permissions… loooooooserrrrrrs !!!

  26. These are probably the same idiots that download widgets from the market and then give 1 star because they can’t figure out how to “open the program”. Morons! Maybe the update is just a few bug fixes. Google Maps is arguable the best free app available on the Android platform. If it still works and hasn’t lost any functionality, shut the heck up and stop complaining!

  27. 1 star dumb @$$3$

  28. Bawwwww. No changelog. I am going to give you 1 star for that. Bawwwww.

    Seriously, grow up. Jeez.

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