Sony has unveiled the Xperia Ear Bluetooth earpiece at Mobile World Congress 2016. The device is a virtual assistant which can uses an AI-style
The earpiece connects to an Android smartphone via an app which then enables the earpiece to relay essential information to the user based on location and time of day.
Xperia Ear can then also act as a subtle notification tool, alerting you to messages, missed calls, emails and calendar events throughout the day.
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Of course the assistant also listens to you as well, letting you ask it questions and dish out commands in a conversational way as you would to a real human being.
Sony's thinking behind the earpiece is to try and reduce the amount of time we spend looking at our smartphone screens. A recent report in fact highlighted the medical dangers associated with staring at screens for so long arguing that half the world could be suffering from myopia or near-sightedness by 2050.
Widely regarded as one of the most anti-social things you can do, the Ear replaces the need to constantly check your phone, instead asking you only to take it out of your pocket when you need it most.
The earpiece only has around three hours of active use however Sony claims that's more than enough for a day's worth of communicating with it.
In case that's not enough though the Ear comes with a small carry case which also acts as a battery, charging the earpiece on the go.
The Xperia Ear along with Sony's new X and XA smartphones will all be available to buy from Summer 2016.