'Evi' Arrives as Potential Challenger to Siri

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.