How to display comments from devices that I don't own?

Question

It is now possible to filter the comments in the Google Play Store using the devices you own as filter. Is it possible in some way to filter comments by devices that I don't own?

I am trying to check how some apps behave on my device because it is not so popular, and I would like to try instead check comments with other devices with similar hardware specs.

Answer 1

When you specify one of your devices (to narrow down the comments), the web page sends an AJAX query to google. It passes a GET variable, specifying the device; it also passes some POST variables, one of which is a token (so you can't simply browse to the page).

You could write something that requests a different device to get the comments. The only problem is that google has their own definitions for device models. You would have to find out the model id used by google for the device(s) you wish to browse.

Here is a starting point for your code. I grabbed my token value by using Tamper Data.

app_id = "com.rovio.angrybirds";
token_id = "FIND_YOUR_OWN_TOKEN";
device_id = encodeURI("LGE LG-VM670"); //this is sent as a GET, so encode
page_number = 0;

$.ajax({
  type: "POST",
  url: "https://play.google.com/store/getreviews?id="+app_id+"&reviewSortOrder=2&reviewType=1&fn="+device_id+"&pageNum="+page_number,
  data: { xhr: "1", token: token_id},
  dataType: "json",
  success: function(json) {
    parse_reviews(json);
  },
  error: function(json) {
    // it seems like the standard behavior from this url call is a response 'code' of ")]}'", instead of a 200 or other standard code
    parse_reviews(json);
  }
})

function parse_reviews(json_object){
  //this should extract the comments to a readable format
}

Here's a starting point for your list of devices. My two devices are the

• Optimus V: "LGE LG-VM670"
• Nook Simple Touch: "BarnesAndNoble NOOK"

Readers: Feel free to add your device in the comments.

Answer 2

No, this is not possible.

Unfortunately, Google have not implemented this feature into Google Play as of yet.