You knew it was only a matter of time before a Siri competitor came along, didn’t you? Meet Evi: an attempt at emulating the popular Siri. Evi was developed for Android phones, but this app can also be purchased for the iPhone (just in case you don’t have a 4S). Essentially, Evi aims to do everything that Siri does, but Evi is lacking in many different ways. Still, if you want some kind of artificial intelligence app, Evi might be the app that you’ve been looking for.

What Evi Can and Can’t Do

If you ask Evi to tell you the time or set your alarm, this can be accomplished with relative ease. However, Evi can’t schedule meetings, send text messages, or remind you about something when you enter your house. In short, Evi is no Siri, but she’s Siri’s discount replacement, it seems. Even though Evi can’t do what Siri can easily do, Evi is a lot of fun to play around with. You can ask Evi snarky questions and get some humorous responses. You can ask Evi to provide you with some information, and you might be sent a link or two.

Although Evi is certainly an interesting app, Evi doesn’t integrate with exist apps (something that Evi says is in the works at the moment). Chances are that Evi will get better with time, though this might not happen either. Right now, Evi is relatively new on the smartphone scene, so we’ll have to sit back and wait to see if Evi will soon compete with the integrated Siri (though most sources say that this can’t happen quite yet).

Some Problems

A few problems have been reported when using Evi. Many have complained that Evi doesn’t always hear a question when asked. This poses a problem and often results in Evi sending out wrong information or simply not responding. The other issue is that Evi is a lot slower than Siri. If you’ve had a chance to play around with an iPhone 4S, you may have noticed that Siri is clever, quick-witted, and fast. Evi, on the other hand, will respond if you give her enough time.

While not a huge drawback, some users find Evi’s voice to be irritating. Siri has a mechanical and wise voice, and Evi’s voice pales in comparison (or, perhaps, these comments are just based on the fact that people have become used to Siri commercial, and anything else is deemed as annoying). Either way, if you have an Android phone, you can give Evi a shot for free (just search the Marketplace for the Evi App). If you have an iPhone, you will have to pay $.99 for the Evi app (a sort of punishment for iPhone users, no doubt).

Alternately, you can simply wait for the iPhone 5 to arrive (a better Siri will likely be included). Or, you can wait for the newest Android phone to be released – one Android phone is bound to include a Siri-like option sooner or later. Then again, if you must have a sassy artificially intelligent sidekick right now, Evi will do until a better Siri comes along.