Evi – cool virtual assistant app to ask your Android questions & get answers!
by Paul Wilks
Jul 16, 2012 7:44 AM –
Install
Evi is a cool voice search application that’s available right now in the Google Play Store. While most users have watched videos of Google Now but know deep down their carrier/manufacturer won’t be updating your device any time soon, virtual assistants and other artificial intelligence apps continue to be popular. Evi is awesome at answering questions and, while it doesn’t yet open apps for you, it can answer lots of questions and has excellent voice recognition (for an example, I’ve tested this while suffering from a cold and it’s understood me 95% of the time!) It’s completely free and well worth checking out.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Accurate voice recognition!
- If Evi doesn’t have an answer it usually offers websites that might contain the answers!
- Nice UI!
- Great range of question options!
- Built-in browser!
- Good tutorial section!
Cons
- Struggles a little bit with names.
- Suggests websites more frequently than I’d prefer.
Features:
Voice search is a hot topic right now. With the still relatively recent introduction of Siri onto iOS, S-Voice on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Google’s more advanced solution Google Now being introduced with Jelly Bean, users are being given a wide variety of virtual assistants to choose from.
One such solution has received lots of attention in the Android media. Iris (Siri spelled backwards) was a quickly thrown together- but then extensively developed- app that is pretty competent. However, I recently compared Iris against another voice search application- Evi. Originally developed out of a very smart ‘answer engine‘ created by a company called TrueKnowledge (which recently changed its name to Evi), Evi is, by all accounts, very impressive. In ten questions I posed to both Iris and Evi, Evi scored seven to Iris’s six. While this might not seem as dazzling as the high return rates seen in Google Now’s video tests, for day-to-day searches and answers to various questions, it’s not bad.
With these kind of apps (of which more and more are being added to Google Play Store all the time) it often comes down to how you phrase a question, yet Evi seems to do more to understand natural language and responds far better than I expected. Like I mentioned before, I tested the app while full of a brutal cold (aaawww!) yet the app understood me perfectly most of the time. I should highlight that, while it was able to answer seven of the ten questions I posed it, yet understood every one.
The app either answers your question directly (see my query pictured below ‘Who Is David Beckham’), offers a selection of available options (check out what happened when I asked where I could get a curry) or, if it can’t answer, it suggests websites that might be able to help. What I never heard from Evi is that it didn’t understand what I was asking. It answers questions really well and, although it seemed to suggest websites instead of answering more often than I would have preferred, I was really impressed with the detail in some of the responses.
Watch on Mobile
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Evi – Tutorial
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Evi – Wide variety of questions can be answered
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Evi – Some questions are understood, just refered to other websites
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Evi – Occasional bad answer
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Evi – List of local curry outlets
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Evi – It can even answer really critical questions ;)
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Evi – Definition of Android
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Evi – Beckham enquiry
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Evi – Who shot JFK
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Evi – Answer to the Universe and Everything
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Evi – Settings
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Evi – Privacy policy
Usefulness:
Unless you’ve got a Galaxy Nexus phone, your device probably isn’t going to get Google Now any time soon (unless you’re rooting and trying out community ROMs) so it’s worth checking out what is available. Evi, in my experience, is a brilliant little application that is very responsive and provides concise, accurate answers to lots of different questions and queries. Check out the video above for a range of examples. The app provides local information for both the U.K. and the U.S., so put it to the test and see how it works for you.
Ease of Use:
Just press the button and ask a question. It helps if you speak clearly and don’t slur you words, but that’s pretty obvious isn’t it? I should also mention I was born and still live close to Cambridge in the U.K. where Evi was developed, so there might be a slight advantage there, so definitely try it out for yourself.
You can also type questions in using your keypad so that’s a handy addition.
Frequently Used:
Evi scored highly when I tested it so I’m far more inclined to ask it quick response questions to get an answer to something. I personally find putting these kind of apps on my homescreen or in my dock means I use it more often. Apps like Evi are all about convenience so, if the app is easily accessible on your device, you might use it more. Actual usage will depend on how many queries you might have.
Interface:
The interface is plain and simple but provides some slick animations and effects. Information is presented succinctly and is easy to read. Evi, in the latest version I was testing, seems to be a guy, rather than a female voice demonstrated in the video.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Evi,
Google Now,
Iris,
Siri,
Virtual Assistant,
Voice Recognition,
Voice Search
Categorised in: Lifestyle
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