'Evi' Arrives as Potential Challenger to Siri

Monday January 23, 2012 9:34 am PST by Eric Slivka

TechCrunch reports on Evi, a new Siri-like offering from True Knowledge that has launched for iOS devices [App Store] and as a beta for Android devices. While Siri provides a fair amount of integration with Apple apps and services such as reminders and calendaring, it is currently limited to the iPhone 4S, while Evi is compatible with all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS 4.0 or later.

She – we’ll call this Artificial Intelligence a she – returns amazing results when consulted. Given that Siri is just not very good at giving answers which aren’t about the US, Evi might just be the Siri for the rest of the world, especially since Evi wil run on any Andoid or iPhone, and not just the 4S. I’ve seen her in action and Evi is very, very smart.

Based on the same Nuance voice recognition technology found in Siri and the licensing of which accounts for Evi's $0.99 price tag in the App Store, Evi draws upon a database of nearly a billion facts as well as integration with Yelp and other services to deliver an array of information that seems to compare favorably to Siri's abilities.

Install Evi on an iPhone 4S and compare it to Evi. Ask “How do I make apple pie?”. Siri is unable to provide a direct answer and so asks whether you want to search the web. Evi provides a list of recipes with web links.

Ask “Who was President when Queen Elizabeth II was born”. Siri is unable to provide an answer and suggests performing a web search. Evi determines who Queen Elizabeth II is, when she was born, the dates when she will have been a teenager and then compares this against which US presidents were in office over that time, delivering the results of both serving US presidents during those years. Not bad huh.

Evi offers the option of voice or text input, local results for the United States and United Kingdom, and a built-in browser view for quick access to web links from results.

Top Rated Comments

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Slix

Posted: 33 months ago

That logo... is so creepy.

Rating: 20 Votes

rmwebs

Posted: 33 months ago

Thank you, Apple.

:rolleyes: You mean than you Nuance for letting apple use THEIR technology...Apple did not invent bugger all here.

Evi is a great option for those of us not stupid enough to move from a 4 to 4s just for a voice assistant gimmick ;)

Now, stop being smug.

Rating: 18 Votes

AlphaDogg

Posted: 33 months ago

Too bad it is not integrated into the OS like Siri is.

Rating: 10 Votes

rmwebs

Posted: 33 months ago

When the Apple train comes in, everybody rides.

Don't you already know this?

Except Apple weren't first...again...

Don't you already know this?

Rating: 9 Votes

b166er

Posted: 33 months ago

I am officially 100% fed up with Apple Apologists saying Siri is still beta....Apple uses it as a selling point in print and tv commercials. It is NOT beta. It is in a production environment and being touted as a great tool by its owner and NEVER in their tv commercials is the word "beta" uttered. Never.

never

Apple says it's in beta.

Rating: 8 Votes

ArtOfWarfare

Posted: 33 months ago

While those results might be interesting, apple pie baking and presidents with the Queen's reign are not things I personally would be asking Siri or Evi

While I agree I wouldn't ask these specific trivia questions, it demonstrates her ability to do more than just perform a google search for you.

Trivia lookup: Siri < Evi
Personal assistant: Siri > Evi

Although I should mention Siri is a terrible personal assistant. Her ability to interpret locations when I'm trying to set up a calendar appointment is... Nonexistent.

Her ability to create new contacts is... Well, also nonexistent. Both of these are tap and time intensive tasks that would be much easier to do with your voice on the phone.

Rating: 6 Votes

rmwebs

Posted: 33 months ago

so far i have got 2 useful answers, 3 completely irrelevant answers, and 20 answers of "I'm having trouble getting a response from my servers"

this isn't looking promising...

They are having server issues which seem reminiscent of the Siri launch. Give it a couple of days ;)

----------

She aint Siri.

But she uses the EXACT SAME voice recognition technology, so if it doesn't recognise what you're saying in Evi, it wont recognise it in Siri (and vice-versa)

Rating: 6 Votes

rmwebs

Posted: 33 months ago

Evi's answer to everything I ask. Not too bright I think.

Looks like growing pains...same thing happens with every Apple online service and we all get over it and move on ;)

Rating: 6 Votes

QuiteSure

Posted: 33 months ago

So far, no good. Asked a few questions like: "who were the seven dwarfs" "who was the 10th president of the united states" and while the recognition appears to be good (thanks Nuance) the responses have all been uniformly unhelpful:

"I'm having trouble getting a response from my servers. You might want to try again in a minute."

I'd rather get a web search than a no response.

When I asked Siri who the 10th president of the united states was, she took 4 seconds to return "John Tyler", his country, political affiliation, and other pertinent details of his term of office.

Rating: 6 Votes