Yesterday, I wondered aloud when Google would release v2.0 of its Wallet. Well, I guess the folks at Google heard me, because just later in the day 2.0 dropped.
No, I don’t have that kind of influence.
The new Google Wallet is said to have the following additional functionality:
- The ability to support “any credit or debit card — Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover”;
- Remote disabling via wallet.google.com/manage; and
- Improvements to the user interface, application stability, and battery life.
As of early today, the new Wallet had already received more than 40 user reviews, and they are widely divergent. The average score for the new app is 3.35 out of 5. However, the scores are widely divergent, with 47% of users who submitted ratings scoring Wallet 2.0 a 5, while 35% scored it a 1 or 2.
The actual reviews are just as diverse:
Just got the update today and tried it at my local convenience store the transaction was nearly instant as shown in the videos. previously I had to hold the phone to the terminal for about 5 seconds before it beeped and buzzed in my hand to confirm the transaction. Phone model is Nexus 4. –Chris Hirner, new Wallet rating: 5
…as compared to…
Cannot add card. Very unreliable. What a joke. Works on my other 2 phones but not my Sprint SG3. Newest update still can’t add card. Google and Samsung no help at all. –James Denbo, new Wallet rating: 1
We’ll let you be the judge.
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The version number is 1.6-R96-v13, not 2.0.
Thanks, Aaron. “2.0” is used here not in a version-specific sense, but more generally to mean the second iteration of the product.
Well this would be at the very least the third iteration of Google Wallet. They had a very plain Google Wallet in the beginning with no customizable cards and plain icons. They switched to a more HOLO look, and now this version.
This isn’t 2.0. It only changes the layout. You could always add visa and other cards via the cloud since September.