Sony Xperia Ear Duo will now tell you who's calling

Smart assistants are great for hands-free voice control but they have their limits in different situations. Someone's calling but can't whip out your phone? Good luck knowing that even if you have a Bluetooth headset on. How about knowing the time when your watch isn't available? Yeah, no dice. Sony, however, is trying to buck that trend with the latest update to its Xperia Ear Duo, making the smart earbuds really smart, whether you're on Android or iOS.

Sony is developing its own "sort of" AI assistant. It's not as full-blown as, say Google Assistant or Apple Siri. At least not yet. It's also very limited in availability, on Sony's non-smartphone Xperia smart products, like this Xperia Ear Duo Bluetooth headset. The advantage? It gets to have features you might not find on other smart assistants, even those headsets that integrate with them.

With the latest update, the Xperia Ear Duo Caller Name Read-out function will do exactly, tell you who's calling so you can decide to accept or reject the call without having to look at your phone. Want to know the time? Simply tap on the headset's touchpad and you're all set.

This update is all about control, including letting you control how much of your music you want to hear even in noisy environments. Strong wind getting in the way of your music or call? The improved Adaptive Volume Control promises to make short work of that.

The Xperia Ear Duo and Sony's AI assistant doesn't care if you're using Android or iOS but there are platform limitations that put them on unequal footing. Now, however, iPhone owners no longer have to feel jealous because they, too, can now receive voice notifications for calls, messages, email, and calendar reminders.