Ovi store quietly changes ratings standard
Today I noticed that when I went to store.ovi.com, something was different. All of the star ratings had changed from the 3 star rating system to a 5 star rating system. This is something that many user have complained about. There was always a feeling that you couldn't really accurately rate an application or tell its worth with only 3 stars to go by. On the 3 star system most apps ended up with 2 stars.
<-old---new-> 
Now with 5 there should be more variance based on the the reviews an application has received. Also, changed are the colors of the stars. before they were all yellow and now they have been changed to pink. More of a style difference than anything else, but they now really stand out from the white background of the page.
If you try visiting the store from your devices you should be prompted for an optional update. You can carry on without it, but you will only see the 3 star ratings. Once you update you will see the new 5 star system.
One thing I have noticed is that all of the previous ratings have been reset to four stars. I guess Nokia had to wipe the old ratings clean to implement the new one, or they are still converting the database of all the old ratings over to a 5 star equivalent. Either way, it is good to see that Nokia is listening to user input regarding this service.
(update 3/30/2010)
The way reviews are displayed within the Ovi client have changed as well. Now you can clearly see what device the user posted from. No more wondering if the reviews you see apply to your device or not.
Also slightly altered, is the way screenshots are displayed. They used to show up as small images next to the title at the top of the application description. Now the pictures are displayed below the description and the picture that is selected to be displayed is larger than the rest. This is a welcome change as this makes screenshots much easier to view.
One thing still left to change is the ability to filter reviews by language. Far too often, one will have to sift through many reviews before finding a review in their language. This should not be hard to implement since the device is already aware of your language. it would just require Nokia to implement a selectable language filter into the Ovi store.
