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We've talked before about what it takes for an app to truly be a competitor to Apple's Siri. 

1. It needs to be easily accessible, and launch quickly. Very quickly.
2. It needs to actually understand what you're saying.
3. It needs to return results quickly.

We're going to add one more reqiurement to that list: It needs to actually be on iOS. Otherwise, it's not a Siri competitor. It's just an alternative. On another platform.

Anyhoo. That brings us to Evi, the latest app to attempt Siri-like functionality on Android. That is, you ask it a question or give it a command, and it responds with audio and text. Maybe.

Evi's user interface isn't too shabby. Clean lines and all that, and you've got a nice, prominent microphone button, so you know what to hit. You don't get the same home button metaphor that you do with Siri on the iPhone, but then again most Android smartphones don't have dedicated home buttons. That's not a big ding, just noticeable. Evi uses Google's voice-to-whatever UI and is powered by Nuance, so that looks familiar, and it's quick enough in listening to what you're saying.

But that's when things pretty much go off the rails. In even just our handful of tests, Siri was much quicker at returning results. It's pretty obvious for some things, Siri already knows the answer -- it's looking them up in the background. Evi needs a minute, though typing your question may speed things up a tad -- but that kind of defeates the purpose here.

And once again we see diametric differences in the presentation of results. Siri is simple, both in audio and visual answers. Evi's voice is decidedly robotic, and the answers are too long -- almost engineerish. Oh, and telling me to go look up the weather myself? That's really not acceptable. On the other hand, you get to give each answer a thumbs up or thumbs down. Guess which one I've been using more. 

Does Evi have Siri-like functionality? Sure. Is it a Siri "competitor?" No. It's just not as good -- and it's not on the iPhone, therefore it can't directly compete. (Update: Ah, it's on iOS, too.)

Check out our video walkthrough after the break. And note that we're not dinging Evi too badly for having server problems. When you're a new app that gets a bunch of attention in a short amount of time, this can happen, we suppose. But that doesn't mean we're willing to put up with it for very long. After all -- if your app doesn't work, it doesn't work.

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The folks at Dolphin Browser, one of the most popular third party browsers for Android devices, have unveiled two new add-ons today -- Skitch and Evernote.  Both integrate seamlessly with the Dolphin Browser app, and look to be simple and elegant.  We love simple, especially when paired with elegant.  Using them is easy enough -- when you come across a page you'd like to share you just tap the icon in the Dolphin Browser sidebar (Skitch is a big pink heart, and Evernote is the elephant profile we all know and love) to send it to the correct app.  You can either grab the screen and annotate before you share it with Skitch, or clip a block of text to send to Evernote.  If you don't have the app itself installed, Dolphin will direct you to download it and get signed up.

The developers at Dolphin promise us a whole slew of great add-ons in 2012, and they're off to a great start with these two.  When something looks and runs well, and is useful, we're all for it.  Keep up the good work fellows!  We've got links to the Market for both add-ons below, check 'em out.

Source: Dolphin Browser

Download the Evernote add-on

Download the Skitch add-on

Not a whole lot to say about this play on the old British morale booster, which dates back to World War II. Frankly, we tend to enjoy this version just a little more. War sucks.

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Two months after the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich source code dropped, we're starting to see more exotic custom ROMs appearing for popular devices like the Samsung Galaxy S II. One such ROM comes from XDA's adyscorpius, and brings MIUI 4.0 and Ice Cream Sandwich to the Galaxy S II. MIUI 4.0 Fresh includes most of the features that you'll need to use this thing as your daily driver, if you're into the look and feel of MIUI.

The current version 2.1 features full 8MP camera support, as well as external SD support, so you shouldn't need to sacrifice any of your device's basic functionality in order to enjoy the unique ICS/MIUI combo. For download links and a full feature list, check the source link.

Source: XDA

If you see a Verizon executive walking around today whistling a happy tune, it's because the company's fourth-quarter 2011 earnings were just announced. Big Red recorded a 7.7 percent increase in revenue compared to Q4 2010, for its wireless (as in mobile) and wired (mainly FiOS) combined.

On the wireless side, Verizon saw $18.3 billion in total revenue, up 13 percent year over year. Data revenue was up 19.2 percent to $6.3 billion, and Verizon saw 1.5 million (net) new subscribers, its largest increase in three years. The vast majority of those new subscribers -- 1.3 million -- are of the traditional postpaid variety. Verizon now has 108.7 million total "connections," the company reported, 6.3 percent higher than Q4 2010.

Smartphones make up 44 percent of Verizon's customer base, compared to 39 percent for for the final three months of 2010. It didn't break down how many are Android, and how many are iPhone.

Source: Verizon (pdf)

What is an Android launcher? Probably the most powerful feature of Android is its ability to be customized. And that starts with what's typically called the "launcher." The launcher usually is considered to be the homescreens and app drawer, and they come in all sorts of flavors and designs.

When you hear people talk about "stock" Android, this usually is what they're referring to -- homescreens and app drawer unchanged from what Google includes in the open-sourced code. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. From there, you can download any number of third-party "launchers," which will change the look and functionality of the homescreens and the app drawer. Home screens can have different animations. Or different docks at the bottom. Or a specific number of home screens. App drawers can have more scrolling or sorting options. The possibilities might not be endless, but they're certainly numerous.

Google has included a lot of improvements in the Ice Cream Sandwich launcher, but third-party apps absolutely are not yet obsolete.) Some of the more popular third-party launchers include:

• ADW Launcher
• Launcher Pro
• Go Launcher
• SPB Shell 3D
• Regina 3D
• Launcher 7 (which makes your phone look more like Windows Phone's Metro UI)

There is no shortage of third-party launchers. But they're not the only ones. Smartphone manufacturers all have their own launchers, too. HTC has its Sense UI, its own homescreen and its own app drawer, all nicknamed "Rosie." Motorola has long has its "Blur" user interface. Samsung has "TouchWiz." Don't like any of them? You can install a third-party launcher on top of the default user interface. And with as powerful as today's phones are, you can do so without any real degradation in performance.

Previously on Android A to Z: What is a kernel?; Find more in the Android Dictionary

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Verizon has announced their new 4x4 Galaxy Nexus contest and you'll want to make sure you get in on the action if you haven't already. The contest will be running for the next four days and in order to win, you'll have to meet Verizons expectations for entry. The short version:

• Follow @VerizonWireless on Twitter
• Every day for the next 4 days, an entry timeframe will be announced that runs from 10AM ET through 11:59PM ET.
• Each day you'll be given a different task for your Tweets. All of which must include, #GalaxyNexus4x4.
• You can have up to 10 entries, provided you complete the tasks.

Winners will be chosen on by January 31 and contacted via Twitter DM. Your odds of winning will depend on the amount of entries of course but if you don't play -- you won't win that's for sure. You can hit the source link for the full contest details and rules.

Source: Verizon

Samsung is having a rough go against Apple in Germany, but that’s apparently not setting a precedent for the rest of Europe. The Court of the Hague, in the Netherlands, has denied an appeal from Apple to place an injunction on Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales on grounds of design patent infringement. The Dutch ruling took into account two out of six potential pieces of prior art, though they may take more into consideration later on. Apple has already been shot down once for this case in the Dutch lower courts, and having the appeal denied as well means this case is pretty cut and dry.

It's great to see Samsung is successfully defending their products against what is now amounting to a legal pissing match. Even Australia, which had initially placed a ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1, eventually relented. Can we really expect any injunction against any device to stick just because it kinda-sorta looks like a competitor in its class? Unless they're coming close to copying the name too, I don't see any consumer confusion arising from physical similarities. 

You can find the full Dutch court ruling, ripe for Google Translating, over here. 

Source: FOSS Patents via iMore