'Smart', yeah, errm, well not really.
As I understand it, the point of the 500' call is the final stabilized gate check for VMC, so the call is AAL and hence baro not rad alt. I went to Addis once and had to make the call verbally at around 800' rad alt only to get a second auto call out a little while later.
Also, why is the auto call out only for non-prec approaches? When doing an ILS it is silent, just the 1000' call (again rad alt but should be AAL baro).