Earlier this year, Sony introduced earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a new product called the Xperia Ear. Now the company has announced that the gadget will start shipping in the U.S. by December 2016.

Sony Xperia Ear

According to Ubergizmo, Sony explained that the new gadget is a "smart ear" accessory able of doing much more than an ordinary Bluetooth earpiece. Sony has now confirmed the release date and pricing for the Xperia Ear in the United States, after the Xperia Ear has only just been released in Japan.

The Xperia Ear is a smart gadget that provides you Sony's own version of an AI personal assistant right in your ear. The device can be controlled via voice commands and it can perform various tasks, including navigation, dictation, and internet searches. The Xperia ear can also provide time and location-based alerts, news, prompts for missed calls and general notifications.

According to Sony, on a single charge the Xperia Ear wearable device will be able to provide up to 3.5 hours of battery life. The smart gadget will be released in black color for a price tag of $199.99. In the U.S., the device is expected to start shipping on Dec. 13.

Xperia Ear's Functionality

According to Tech Times, the tiny, voice-activated earpiece that is somehow similar to Apple's Siri-enabled earbuds called the AirPods and to Google Assistant. The Xperia Ear can be controlled using a custom Android app and can be paired to the user's smartphone through NFC and Bluetooth.

The smart gadget offers hands-free voice commands once integrated, so the user can tack it onto their ear perform various tasks. The device can also be set up to perform specific commands at the nod or tilt of the wearer's head. However, the Xperia Ear is still far from a fully voice-enabled and motion controlled gadget.