diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index d211061f770..d5db19874b8 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ Release 0.19.0 - Unreleased
   BUG FIXES
    HBASE-891   HRS.validateValuesLength throws IOE, gets caught in the retries
    HBASE-892   Cell iteration is broken (Doğacan Güney via Jim Kellerman)
+   HBASE-898   RowResult.containsKey(String) doesn't work
+               (Doğacan Güney via Jim Kellerman)
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-890   Alter table operation and also related changes in REST interface
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/RowResult.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/RowResult.java
index b029b1c1a2c..8b9e87c73cb 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/RowResult.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/RowResult.java
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ public class RowResult implements Writable, SortedMap<byte [], Cell> {
   public boolean containsKey(Object key) {
     return cells.containsKey(key);
   }
+  
+  public boolean containsKey(String key) {
+    return cells.containsKey(Bytes.toBytes(key));
+  }
 
   public boolean containsValue(@SuppressWarnings("unused") Object value) {
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Don't support containsValue!");