But then, I came across a bug in an app I had downloaded (it would force close at a certain point). So, as the email for every dev is given with the app I sent off an email to report the bug. This was the first bug report I'd ever made on Android. The dev got back in touch within an hour and very helpfully taught me how to get a log* and send it to them to help solve the problem. All told my bug was squashed and I had a perfectly working app in 48 hours or less. Now that's service!
The dev then thanked me for helping out, explaining that a lot of people just leave a bad rating when a bug crops up. That was weird. It wasn't the first time either, just last week another dev with another app said exactly the same thing after I sent off my log.
The app in question was FaceBook Sync:
As you can see from the screen capture below, both one star ratings are for bugs that maybe could have been fixed had these guys just bothered to send an email.
This ain't rocket science, if you just thumb your nose, the problem'll never get fixed, if you have enough motivation to bother rating an app then just send the log. If the problem isn't addressed within a few days/a week then you can think about leaving a bad rating.
The success of any modern phone relies on the success of its third party apps. Android reduces the barrier for app development, allowing more people to innovate and produce apps (hence all of the top-notch free apps) but if people don't submit bug reports, the Market will just be a wasteland of alpha/beta quality projects backed by very frustrated developers.
So, if you've ever given a one star rating for something that could've been a bug, try to just send an email next time and wait a week or so before your review.
*If you want to get a log, try this app:
It'll let you collect and send logs, works a charm for me.
EDIT: The developer for Facebook Sync also has a blog post about this. (I only discovered this on 18/5/2010)
EDIT: The developer for Facebook Sync also has a blog post about this. (I only discovered this on 18/5/2010)
Heya,
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy Facebook Sync, still working on a couple of bugs pointed out by other people :-P
Anyway great post.
Cheers,
Matt
p.s. I'm a student who does this for fun
Hi, well it's working great for me, thanks for dropping by and keep up the good work. I hope to develop as a hobby myself once I learn a bit, I started this blog as a kind of continuous log of my progress and to maybe work with other complete beginners to share tips so drop in again from time to time and share tips if you have any!
ReplyDeleteI started out the same, if your twitter add me @gauntface
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your android hacking :-)
Matt