Apple promised to provide top audio quality and battery life with its recently announced AirPods, but you might recall Sony introducing its attempt to reinvent wireless ear buds at MWC earlier this year.
The company debuted the Xperia Ear as an ‘in-ear personal assistant’ during its press conference at the tech show, and now the device is available for pre-order.
Allowing you to communicate via voice and head gestures, the ear bud is a new way to interact with a virtual assistant, putting something akin to Siri or Alexa in your ear.
You can ask it to make calls, write texts, run web searches and provide directions, plus it will read out incoming messages from social media apps.
The gesture functionality allows you to respond to these messages by nodding your head, then dictating your message.
Other features include the ability to provide the latest news, weather updates, traffic conditions and your next calendar appointment.
In terms of specs, the device weighs 6.8g, making it lightweight enough that it shouldn’t fall out of your ear during even the most vigorous of head gestures.
There’s also IPX2 water protection, making it usable in the rain, while the battery is a 65 mAh offering capable of providing up to four hours of talk time on a single charge.
That means you’ll likely spend a lot of time charging the Xperia Ear but it does come with a charging case that features a 300mAh battery pack to power up the ear bud when its not in use.
Related: Sony Xperia XZ review
And with the case weighing just 40g you should be able to fit it in your pocket fairly easily, allowing you to charge the Xperia Ear on the go.
Connection to your phone is handled via Bluetooth and NFC with extra features including an accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor.
You can pre-order the Xperia Ear through the Xperia Online store for £179 from today, and Sony is offering a £45 voucher which can be used when buying a smartphone from the same store if you pre-order today.
WATCH: Sony Xperia X Review
Let us know if you’ll be ordering the Xperia Ear in the comments.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
