...most talked about #iPhone app in the last 24hrs was: Evi http://t.co/TDysj6pV... Read More

It might. Evi, a Siri knock-off, has apparently turned some heads at Apple. I took a look at Evi a few weeks ago. After a rocky start with overloaded servers, the app settled down and has gotten more reliable, but still has a lot of bad reviews in the App Store. Evi is attractive because unlike Siri, it does not require an iPhone 4S. Evi also uses the Nuance speech-recognition engine, just like Siri. Unlike Siri, Evi can't interact with Mail, Calendar or the Reminders app. TechCrunch reports that William Tunstall-Pedoe, CEO of Evi developer True Knowledge, received a phone call Friday from Richard Chipman of Apple. According to the published report, Tunstall-Pedoe was told Apple was going to remove Evi from the app store because it was very similar to Siri. Apple is citing section 8.3 of the App Store Terms and Conditions: "Apps which appear confusingly similar to an Read More

Only yesterday we reported that Evi, a new iPhone (iTunes link) and Android app (link) which was incredibly Siri-like – and some say it’s better – had gotten a call from Apple that it was about to be pulled from the App store. Why? For being – as far as we could figure out – too much like Siri, and maybe, well, just too good. Today, the buzz at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is that Apple has climbed down from that position, and in particular, as a result of our story. Where the issue stands now is this: It looks like Evi will now be given “leeway time” (i.e. Apple won’t be pulling the app) and the ‘being too similar’ to Siri issue has gone from ‘not fixable’ to now ‘fixable’. We are hearing that Apple’s problems are with Evi’s UI, which is quite Siri-like, but clearly that can be Read More

Only yesterday we reported that Evi, a new iPhone (iTunes link) and Android app (link) which was incredibly Siri-like – and some say it’s better – had gotten a call from Apple that it was about to be pulled from the App store. Why? For being – as far as we could figure out – too much like Siri, and maybe, well, just too good. Today, the buzz at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is that Apple has climbed down from that position, and in particular, as a result of our story. Where the issue stands now is this: It looks like Evi will now be given “leeway time” (i.e. Apple won’t be pulling the app) and the ‘being too similar’ to Siri issue has gone from ‘not fixable’ to now ‘fixable’. We are hearing that Apple’s problems are with Evi’s UI, which is quite Siri-like, but clearly that can be Read More

Apple se ha puesto en contacto con True Knowledge, desarrollador de Evi, una aplicación de reconocimiento de voz que, si bien no hace todo lo que Siri es capaz, puede facilitarte las cosas usando comandos hablados. El motivo de la llamada ha sido avisarle que retirarían su aplicación de la App Store por su similitud con Siri, citando el artículo 8.3 de los Términos y Condiciones de Apple (si, aquellos términos que nunca nos leemos) que dice lo siguiente: “Las aplicaciones que sean similar o quieran parecerse a un producto de Apple serán rechazadas o eliminadas” Resulta raro que la aplicación lleve presente en la App Store desde el 17 de enero de este año, habiendo sido lógicamente aprobada por Apple, y que ahora la retire. Si bien no cosecha buenas críticas en la Store, debido principalmente a problemas con los servidores, que hace que no funcione tan bien como debiera, Read More

It seems Siri doesn't want to compete for attention. The powers that be at Apple are looking to jettison voice assistant Evi from the App Store, says the app's developer. Apple may be looking to take down its latest Siri rival for fear of competition. Launched as an Android App, Evi made its iOS debut in Apple's App Store in mid-January. But after a little more than a month, its days may be numbered. William Tunstall-Pedoe, CEO of Evi developer True Knowledge, told TechCrunch that he received a phone call on Friday from an Apple representative named Richard Chipman, who apparently handles some of the calls about apps on the chopping block. Chipman reportedly told Tunstall-Pedoe that Apple was going to remove Evi from the App Store since it was similar to Siri. The app not surprisingly appears to violate rule number 8.3 from the App Store Review Guidelines (PDF), which Read More

Want Siri on your non-iPhone 4S device? Take a look at these alternatives in the App Store. Siri is amazing! It works flawlessly and since it was created by Apple, has full access to the iOS. This means it can do really powerful things like creating new reminders or sending out emails to contacts. Siri is also capable of carrying seemingly natural conversations with you. If you don’t have an iPhone 4S yet, there are a few iPhone and iPod touch apps popping out in the App Store to serve as alternatives for the time being. These apps try to duplicate and or imitate the features of the native Siri app on the iPhone 4S, although none of them come even close to being as effective. We’ve reviewed the 6 top voice recognition apps in the App Store that offer assistant like functionality, including SpeakToIt Assistant, Evi, Dragon Go, Vlingo, Voice Read More

Evi is the sort-of Siri clone. The $0.99 iPhone app is aimed mainly at people who don't have an iPhone 4S and want a Siri-like voice control experience. When I tried Evi some weeks ago it was a complete disaster. In a week of testing I could not connect once because of server issues. The developers said they were adding server capacity, and it seems they have. In extensive tests of the app this week, I only had one time when Evi was busy and couldn't respond. That is a great improvement. I found a lot to like now that the app is working, and some things that Evi excels at. When I asked Evi who the Chancellor of Germany was, I got the correct information, as well as pictures. Siri also got the question right, but no pictures. I thought the Evi experience was a bit better. When I asked Read More

by Getting Siri’s voice-recognition capabilities on your phone just became a possibility for Android users and a bit less expensive for iPhone users. Meet Evi — a $.99 app for iPhones and free for Android. For such a nominal price, don’t expect Evi to be on par with Siri. There are some major differences with Evi as opposed to the quick and integrated Siri. Evi will not schedule meetings on your calendar or let you dictate text messages. But for functions like finding local shops, restaurants and general information, it’s pretty helpful. I asked Evi: “What time is it, Evi?” and it thought I said, “What time is it TV?”. Messages such as “Just a mo’” appeared on the screen to let me know it was thinking and then it said, “I’m having trouble getting a response from my servers.” Yes, it was noticeably slower than Siri. Other times it would Read More

Facebook hogged tech headlines this week with news that it was pushing its Timeline to all users and will IPO next week. But while the 800-million-person social network was making news, there were also worthwhile launches from great startup apps that you might have missed. You could sort through the App Store’s 500,000 apps and the Android store’s estimated 300,000 apps in order to find them. Or you could check out our recap of the best new apps in the slideshow above. We’ve done our best to sort out the overly frivolous, the ugly and the downright impractical. The apps left standing include one that accomplishes a popular Photoshop trick in two simple steps, another that will pool contact info from your phone, social accounts and email to create one list to rule them all, another that works like Siri for people who don’t have an iPhone 4S and long-awaited Android Read More

...most talked about #iPhone app in the last 24hrs was: Evi http://t.co/TDysj6pV... Read More

Siri has been a big hit for Apple, but as we all know, it runs only on an iPhone 4S. I've been expecting some Siri knock-offs to appear, and now one has that can be used on any iPhone and even the iPad if you don't mind not seeing it full screen. The app is called Evi by True Knowledge. It's US$0.99 and runs on any iDevice with iOS 4.0 or greater. "Run" is a bit of a misnomer. Evi's speech recognition is powered by Nuance, just like Siri, and the recognition part is first rate. But that's where the good news ends. Evi has not successfully responded to a single spoken query I've made since yesterday afternoon. Generally the app sits there for awhile, then reports that it is "Thinking about it," followed by "Let me see'" and then, inevitably, "I'm having trouble getting a response from my servers. You Read More

Apple’s Siri is certainly not alone in trying to be our digital assistant that knows everything and can help us in any way we ask. Quite how successful Siri is in its quest will depend on how you use it and whether your accent fits, but that’s something we’ve already discussed to exhaustion. One new app which is aiming to take on Siri goes by the name of Evi, which we’re sure was chosen for one reason and one reason only – it sounds just like its competition. Evi is available for both iOS and Android, with the latter being free and the former towing a $0.99 price tag. The discrepancy is apparently down to the need to pay Nuance for the voice recognition engine – an engine that is not used in the Android version. At less than a dollar we’ll not complain too much… If you’re thinking that this might be a poor Read More

When Siri arrived on the iPhone 4S I thought to myself, who else could do this? It would need to be a search engine with natural language processing, but also behave in the manner of artificial intelligence and respond to voice recognition. One company that sprung to mind was True Knowledge. I pinged them. Are you working on a Siri type application, I asked? Interesting question, was their response. And then they went quiet. Now they can reveal what they’ve been building. Evi is a new iPhone (iTunes link) and Android app in Beta (link) which might just give Apple’s Siri a run for her money. 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 Read More