Sony is working on an Amazon Echo competitor

Xperia Agent
Xperia Agent

Sony has used MWC to announce its brand new Xperia X and Xperia XA phones - but that's not all, with the Japanese giant using the opportunity to show off concept designs as well.

One of these concepts is for a personal assistant device called the Xperia Agent that will give you useful information, communicate with you and also allow you to control your home.

It uses Sony's voice technology to communicate and will be controlled by either your voice or gesture controls. It all sounds a lot like the Amazon Echo.

Hello, Agent

The Xperia Agent will also have a projector to show content on blank surfaces in your home.

Xperia Projector

Sony sadly doesn't have an Xperia Agent device ready for the market, but it's interesting that Sony has embraced voice assistant technology for the first time.

If the voice technology takes off, we may see a competitor to the likes of Siri and Cortana in future Sony phones.

The same projection technology is also used in another Sony concept called the Xperia Projector.

Xperia Projector

The concept is a small device that will project onto any clear surface and also respond to touch, voice and gestures much like a smartphone does.

Xperia Projector

Sony also revealed a concept for a wearable wide-angle lens camera called the Xperia Eye. It will attach to clothing or worn around the neck in the company's smallest ever camera device.

It would allow for 360-degree field of view and will detect faces and voices to make it easier capturing photos.

This again is just a concept though, and in a year when other companies have created 360 cameras it's a bit of shame Sony hasn't got a finished product ready to put up for sale.

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.