Apple’s Siri technology is a hit among iPhone 4S owners, but users of previous devices have so far been left out – until now, that is. A new app called Evi has just hit the App Store ($0.99, App Store link), and plans to give Siri a run for her money on older Apple devices.
Evi, which is also available for Android, seems to work fairly well for performing searches and dictating text, and has excellent learning features to improve her responses to questions over time.
In some ways, Evi is even better than Siri. For instance, if you ask Siri “How do I make apple pie?,” she responds by asking you to perform a web search, whereas Evi will actually provide a list of recipes and links. TechCrunch points out another way in which Evi gives impressive results:
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 is also capable of retrieving local data in the U.K. as well as the U.S. – something which Siri is cirrently unable to do. There’s no doubt that Evi does a very, very good job at what she does – it’s what she can’t do that’s a bit of a damper – unlike Siri, Evi can’t integrate with calendars, contacts, and reminders, which means she can’t really serve as your “personal digital assistant” to schedule meetings and so forth.
Evi is available immediately for $0.99 on the App Store (link), and I highly recommend giving it a try – you may just be impressed!
