When I last year penned the review for Gowalla 3.0 I really liked the changes and the considerable update to the interface. Back then, it felt like it was a major upgrade to the whole platform. Well, this time around they are going further at Gowalla, releasing both the 4.0 version of the app and their website itself and there are a lot of news.
Interface Update
This is an update that once again features a re-design of the entire app interface. With the shift that Gowalla is making to become more of an experience network, helping you to see and find new things in new cities, this was certainly necessary. As much as the interface is stylish and visually beautiful, they are making it much harder for me to just check in somewhere and use Gowalla as I have always used it: Sharing where I am if it is important across my social networks.
Guides
Gowalla has introduced city guides for a lot of cities in the world (don’t just think New York and San Francisco, yours is probably there). These guides basically contain a list of spots that they suggest that you go to. My guess is that this list is based, apart from the featured spots, on frequent check-ins by Gowalla users. The next time I go to visit a new city on vacation or have a few hours to spare when somewhere on business, I am sure to give Gowalla a chance to see how well it works to experience something new based on the spots that they suggest in the city guide and the already present lists.
Conclusion
I am torn. Part of me really likes the new Gowalla while the other part of me just don’t get it. I have a hard time with the fact that they have made it harder for me to check in to a spot, add a comment and share with friends on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. Instead, the focus on their new stories, while good for the site in general, just takes too much away from me personally. It’s a free update and you should update regardless of what I (or you) think about it since it also contains bug fixes and general improvements as all updates do. If you don’t like the new version, there is always the option of switching to Foursquare instead.
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