If you believe that first impressions are lasting ones, you may want to wait a few more days before saying hello to the new ($.99) voice assistant app called Evi.
Billed by one wildly popular tech blog as “the first true Siri competitor”, Evi has struggled to impress early adopters who've complained about the app not responding due to ongoing server overload. More than a dozen 1-star reviews leave cautionary messages to newcomers saying, DO NOT BUY, while one reviewer called Evi “the worst app I've downloaded”.
The artificial intelligence that drives Evi was developed by True Knowledge, who claims that “Evi understands what you want to know and gives back exactly what you're after.” After downloading the app myself, I was able to get some valid responses along with those same intermittent messages from Evi about having trouble getting responses from servers.
iPhone 4S users should remember that Siri had some of the very same issues days after launch, causing similar frustration for new iPhone owners, except we all paid far more than $.99 cents to get no response from Siri.
Although Evi is not capable of integrating with iPhone's Calendar or Reminders like Siri does, she did appear to be quite intelligent when I did make a brief but meaningful connection. Evi might be the Siri replacement for everyone else, including Android users, but that's if you're willing to wait for her to finally respond.
“Good idea, horrible functionality. Hours later, I'm still waiting for results!” another App Store reviewer wrote.
The simple truth is, that even with free apps, iPhone users come into the App Store with expectations raised to an all time high, requiring developers to deliver a brilliant user experience out of the gate or die. The app game has evolved into an arena where players need to GO BIG or GO HOME, because the competition is fierce and the grandstand is filled with unforgiving weapons of mass consumption.
It's truly unfortunate that much like Siri's coming out party, Evi has has failed to live up to her description as "revolutionary artificial intelligence". The real revolution is taking place amongst the angry mob of early adopters demanding the app be fixed or get a refund.
Based on feedback by most, Evi is one letter away from being branded as Siri's evil twin and then burned at the virtual stake.
Her name is Evi — she's not Evil. She is just a little shy and needs some time to warm up. But that's one expensive luxury she may not have the chance to enjoy because;
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”.
[Watch Evi video]
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